Abstract
Biologically inactive ACTH-producing pituitary adenoma is known as clinically silent corticotroph adenoma. To search for the mechanism causing clinically silent corticotroph adenoma, we immunohistochemically examined the expression of prohormone convertase 1/3 (PC1/3) in this type of adenoma and compared our results with those obtained for Cushing's disease. All of the Cushing's disease specimens exhibited strongly positive PC1/3 exhibition. On the contrary, the expression of PC1/3 was very weak in the clinically silent corticotroph adenoma specimens. The absence of PC1/3 in clinically silent corticotroph adenoma indicates that silent corticotroph adenomas arise in a different cell type sharing the prohormone pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), but processing it differently, accounting for the lack of clinical symptoms due to ACTH excess.
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Ohta, S., Nishizawa, S., Oki, Y. et al. Significance of Absent Prohormone Convertase 1/3 in Inducing Clinically Silent Corticotroph Pituitary Adenoma of Subtype I—Immunohistochemical Study. Pituitary 5, 221–223 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025321731790
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025321731790