Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: MicroRNAs are short, single-stranded, protein non-coding RNA molecules which can be secreted into the circulation by mammalian cells. Their altered expression pattern has been described in many different physiological and pathological conditions. In the extracellular compartments they are encapsulated within vesicles, associated to proteins or apoptotic bodies. Due to their stability they are suggested as promising circulating biomarkers. Regarding pituitary aden...

Abstract unavailable...

Context: Pituitary tumorigenesis does not fit into the most common model of cancer development driven by gene mutations. Instead, epigenetic mechanisms have been widely involved. Among them, aberrant DNA methylation at CpG sites is one of epigenetic hallmarks of tumour cells. There are several methods to study the epigenetic regulation of genome activity, from DNA methylation arrays to more specific DNA methylation analysis such as pyrosequencing, Methylation-Specific PCR (MS-...