Endocrine Abstracts

Gonadotroph tumours (GoTs) are frequent intracranial neoplasms that represent 30% of all pituitary tumours (PiTs). While GoTs are responsible of an important morbidity, their tumorigenesis is not yet understood, and their treatment is limited to surgical resection and radiotherapy. The absence of identified driver-genes combined with their heterogeneity and silent behaviour (i.e. lack of hormone hypersecretion) limit the development of medical treatment. The current lack of re...

Introduction: Pituitary Neuroendocrine tumours (PitNETs) present heterogenic characteristics based on their hormonal expression and secretion. While most PitNETs have a slow progression rate, a subset of them exhibit an aggressive behaviour with recurrence properties despite current surgery, radio- and chemotherapy. To explore new clinical strategies based on immunotherapy we initiated a systemic cartography of the pituitary tumour immune microenvironment (PiTME).<p class=...

Background: Tumour microenvironment (TME) can comprise >50% of the tumour mass and includes non-tumour cells like immune cells and fibroblasts, as well as extracellular matrix, signaling molecules, and blood and lymph vessels. In recent years, TME has begun to be considered both a prognostic tool and a therapeutic target. While the existence of TME is well accepted and described in numerous cancers, little is known about the TME of pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (PitNETs...

Background: While gonadotroph tumors are lacking both medical treatment options and prognostic markers, the tumor microenvironment represents a promising tool. The aim of this study was to 1) identify new tumor microenvironment actors in gonadotroph tumors, 2) gain insight into the tumorigenesis mechanisms driven by these tumor microenvironment cells, and 3) identify new tumor microenvironment-related prognostic markers, as well as new therapeutic targets.<p class="abstext...

Rationale: Pituitary tumours (PiTs) are a common and heterogeneous group of benign, slow-growing intracranial neoplasms arising from the sellar region. While recent advances have improved our knowledge of their cellular composition and the contribution of their tumour microenvironment (TME), most of PiT subtypes lack effective therapeutic treatments. Moreover, the mechanisms that occur in the early stage of PiT initiation remain to be elucidated partly due to the limited numbe...