Endocrine Abstracts

Pituitary carcinomas are rare but represent a particular challenge to clinical practice. We report a case of pituitary carcinoma with metastatic disease in a separate non-contiguous foci within the central nervous system. A 64 year old man presented with a large non-functioning pituitary adenoma manifesting as headache, third pair of cranial nerves paralysis, panhypopituitarism and impaired visual acuity in 1996.The tumour was grossly removed through a right pterional cranioto...

Prediction of the biological behavior in non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) according to morphological criteria is highly inaccurate. Reliable prognostic molecular markers could be useful in providing guidance in NFPA post-surgical follow-up.Aim: To identify differentially expressed genes between aggressive and non-aggressive NFPAs and to assess their prognostic value.Methods: Samples analyzed were selected from a series of ...

Chimeric somatostatin (SST)/dopamine (DA) compounds, termed dopastatins, such as BIM-23A760, an agonist for SST (sst2 and ss5) and DA (D2) receptors, are emerging as promising new approaches to treat pituitary adenomas. However, their actions and mechanisms on the different types of pituitary tumours are still incompletely understood. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyse a set of key functional parameters (signaling pathways, hormonal expression and secretion, cell viabi...

Pituitary adenomas comprise a heterogeneous group of tumours causing serious comorbidities, which would benefit from identification of novel, common molecular/cellular biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The ghrelin system comprises a complex molecular family with multiple functions, and some of its components have been linked to development of various endocrine-related cancers. In this work we aim at better delineating the patho-physiological significance of the ghrelin regul...

Somatostatin analogs (SSA) are a first-line treatment for pituitary adenomas (PA). Indeed, multi-receptor targeting SSA such as octreotide and pasireotide are being successfully used to control hormone secretion and/or tumor growth. Unfortunately, many PA escape from SSA-therapy, which could be related to somatostatin receptor (sst) presence, abundance, availability and/or signaling. In order to better define the molecular/cellular features associated to octreotide and pasireo...

Pituitary adenomas are heterogeneous, rare tumors, which hinders analysis of large numbers of cases with common approaches. To overcome this, a multicenter, clinical-basic strategy was proposed aimed at enhancing the tools to diagnose and manage pituitary tumors by combining clinical/pathological/molecular information. This initiative was developed by the Sociedad Andaluza de Endocrinología y Nutrición, and further endorsed by the Sociedad Española de Endocrinol...