Abstract
A 13-month-old Korean female presented with Cushing disease and diabetes insipidus. On MRI, a 3.5-cm, focally cystic, contrast-enhancing, sellar and suprasellar mass was noted. Aside from blood adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and cortisol elevation, other pituitary hormone blood levels were normal or markedly reduced. The subtotally resected lesion consisted of synaptophysin-immunoreactive lobules of (a) large, polygonal, amphophilic, PAS-positive cells immunoreactive for ACTH, β-endorphin, alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH), and keratin (CAM5.2) in some cells showing Crooke hyaline change, (b) less frequent acidophilic, growth hormone (GH) immunoreactive cells, and (c) rare luteinizing hormone (LH) and/or α subunit immunopositive cells. Also conspicuous were smaller cells resembling Rathke-type epithelium forming rosettes to sizable glands immunoreactive for EMA, keratin, S-100 protein, galectin-3 and rarely for synaptophysin and/or one of the above-noted adenohypophysial hormones. Transcription factors, including Neuro-D1 and Pit-1, were present in ACTH- and GH-producing cells, respectively, but only in occasional Rathke-type cells. The MIB-1 labeling index (LI) was 1.5% in secretory cells and 39% in Rathke-type epithelium. Ultrastructurally, the tissue resembled fetal pituitary of 10–12 weeks gestation and contained fully differentiated corticotrophs and somatotrophs, scant cells of glycoprotein-hormone producing type with small secretory granules, and glandular epithelial cells consistent with committed, but largely undifferentiated Rathke-type epithelium. We consider the tumor as a pituitary blastoma, a lesion composed of multiple cell types common to the development of the affected organ based upon (a) prominence of primitive Rathke-type epithelium, (b) disposition of secretory cells in lobules rather than acini, (c) the limited range of secretory cells represented, (d) the presence of their corresponding transcription factors, and (e) ultrastructural features indicating orderly development of the 10- to 12-week embryonic stage.
References
Alkhani AM, Cusimano M, Kovacs K, Bilbao JM, Horvath E, Singer W (1999) Cytology of pituitary thyrotroph hyperplasia in protracted primary hypothyroidism. Pituitary 1:291–295. doi:10.1023/A:1009966812195
Asa SL, Ezzat S (1999) Molecular determinants of pituitary cytodifferentiation. Pituitary 1:159–168. doi:10.1023/A:1009948813587
Beckwith JB (1998) National Wilms Tumor Study: an update for pathologists. Pediatr Dev Pathol 1:79–84. doi:10.1007/s100249900010
Burgess R, Lunyak V, Rosenfeld M (2002) Signaling and transcriptional control of pituitary development. Curr Opin Genet Dev 12:534–539. doi:10.1016/S0959-437X(02)00337-4
Cotran RS, Kumar V, Collins T (1999) Diseases of infancy and childhood, chap. 11. In: Schofield DT, Cotran RS (eds) Robbins pathologic basis of disease. WB Saunders, Philadelphia, pp 459–491
Dasen JS, Rosenfeld MG (2001) Signaling and transcriptional mechanisms in pituitary development. Annu Rev Neurosci 24:327–355. doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.327
Dubois PM, el Amraoui A, Heritier AG (1997) Development and differentiation of pituitary cells. Microsc Res Tech 39:98–113. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0029(19971015)39:2<98::AID-JEMT2>3.0.CO;2-S
Horvath E, Kovacs K (2002) Folliculo-stellate cells of the human pituitary: a type of adult stem cell? Ultrastruct Pathol 26:219–228. doi:10.1080/01913120290104476
Horvath E, Kovacs K, Scheithauer BW (1999) Pituitary hyperplasia. Pituitary 1:169–179. doi:10.1023/A:1009952930425
Horvath E, Lloyd RV, Kovacs K (1990) Propylthiouracyl-induced hypothyroidism results in reversible transdifferentiation of somatotrophs into thyroidectomy cells. A morphologic study of the rat pituitary including immunoelectron microscopy. Lab Invest 63:511–520
Horvath E, Vidal S, Syro LV, Kovacs K, Smyth HS, Uribe H (2001) Severe lymphocytic adenohypophysitis with selective disappearance of prolactin cells: a histologic, ultrastructural and immunoelectron microscopic study. Acta Neuropathol 101:631–637
Ishak KG, Goodman ZD, Stocker JT (2001) Hepatoblastoma, chap. 6. Atlas of tumor pathology. Tumors of the liver and intrahepatic bile ducts (third series; fascicle 31). American Registry of Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington DC, pp 159–183
Jenkins RB, Qian J, Lieber MM, Bostwick DG (1997) Detection of c-myc oncogene amplification and chromosomal anomalies in metastatic prostatic carcinoma by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Cancer Res 57:524–531
Kane LA, Leinung MC, Scheithauer BW, Bergstralh EJ, Laws ER Jr, Groover RV et al (1994) Pituitary adenomas in childhood and adolescence. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 79:1135–1140. doi:10.1210/jc.79.4.1135
Khalil A, Kovacs K, Sima AA, Burrow GN, Horvath E (1984) Pituitary thyrotroph hyperplasia mimicking prolactin-secreting adenoma. J Endocrinol Invest 7:399–404
Kim MS, Wilson GJ, Holland FJ, Kovacs K (1986) ACTH-producing microadenoma of the pituitary in a young female infant with Cushing’s disease: report of a case including immunocytologic and ultrastructural studies. Pediatr Pathol 6:151–159. doi:10.3109/15513818609037707
Lloyd RV, Kovacs K, Young WF Jr, Farrell WE, Asa SL, Trouillas J et al (2004) Pituitary tumors: introduction. In: DeLellis RA, Lloyd RV, Heitz PU, Eng C (eds) World Health Organization classification of tumours––pathology and genetics of tumours of the endocrine organs. IARC Press, Lyon, pp 10–13
Melmed S (2003) Mechanisms for pituitary tumorigenesis: the plastic pituitary. J Clin Invest 112:1603–1618
Mullis PE (2000) Transcription factors in pituitary gland development and their clinical impact on phenotype. Horm Res 54:107–119. doi:10.1159/000053243
Osamura RY, Egashira N, Miyai S, Yamazaki M, Takekoshi S, Sanno N et al (2004) Molecular pathology of the pituitary. Development and functional differentiation of pituitary adenomas. Front Horm Res 32:20–33
Partington MD, Davis DH, Laws ER Jr, Scheithauer BW (1994) Pituitary adenomas in childhood and adolescence. Results of transsphenoidal surgery. J Neurosurg 80:209–216
Priest JR, McDermott MB, Bhatia S, Watterson J, Manivel JC, Dehner LP (1997) Pleuropulmonary blastoma: a clinicopathologic study of 50 cases. Cancer 80:147–161. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19970701)80:1<147::AID-CNCR20>3.0.CO;2-X
Sanno N, Tahara S, Kurotani R, Matsuno A, Teramoto A, Osamura RY (2001) Cytochemical and molecular biological aspects of the pituitary and pituitary adenomas-cell differentiation and transcription factors. Prog Histochem Cytochem 36:263–299
Sano T, Asa SL, Kovacs K (1988) Growth hormone-releasing hormone-producing tumors: clinical, biochemical, and morphological manifestations. Endocr Rev 9:357–373
Scheithauer BW, Gaffey TA, Lloyd RV, Sebo TJ, Kovacs KT, Horvath E et al (2006) Pathobiology of pituitary adenomas and carcinomas. Neurosurgery 59:341–353. doi:10.1227/01.NEU.0000223437.51435.6E Discussion 341–353
Scheithauer BW, Horvath E, Kovacs K, Laws ER Jr, Randall RV, Ryan N (1986) Plurihormonal pituitary adenomas. Semin Diagn Pathol 3:69–82
Scheithauer BW, Kovacs KT, Randall RV, Ryan N (1989) Effects of estrogen on the human pituitary: a clinicopathologic study. Mayo Clin Proc 64:1077–1084
Scheithauer BW, Sano T, Kovacs KT, Young WF Jr, Ryan N, Randall RV (1990) The pituitary gland in pregnancy: a clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study of 69 cases. Mayo Clin Proc 65:461–474
Stefaneanu L, Powell-Braxton L, Won W, Chandrashekar V, Bartke A (1999) Somatotroph and lactotroph changes in the adenohypophyses of mice with disrupted insulin-like growth factor I gene. Endocrinology 140:3881–3889. doi:10.1210/en.140.9.3881
Vidal S, Horvath E, Kovacs K, Lloyd RV, Smyth HS (2001) Reversible transdifferentiation: interconversion of somatotrophs and lactotrophs in pituitary hyperplasia. Mod Pathol 14:20–28. doi:10.1038/modpathol.3880252
Watkins-Chow DE, Camper SA (1998) How many homeobox genes does it take to make a pituitary gland? Trends Genet 14:284–290. doi:10.1016/S0168-9525(98) 01476-0
Zarate A, Kovacs K, Flores M, Moran C, Felix I (1986) ACTH and CRF-producing bronchial carcinoid associated with Cushing’s syndrome. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 24:523–529. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1986.tb03281.x
Acknowledgments
The authors express their appreciation for the generous support of the Jarislowsky Foundation and the Lloyd Carr-Harris Foundation. We also acknowledge the excellent secretarial assistance of Mrs. Denise Chase of the Mayo Clinic Transcription Service and the photographic expertise of Mr. James Hopfenspirger of Mayo’s Section of Visual Information.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Scheithauer, B.W., Kovacs, K., Horvath, E. et al. Pituitary blastoma. Acta Neuropathol 116, 657–666 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-008-0388-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-008-0388-9