A plurihormonal TSH-producing pituitary tumor of monoclonal origin in a patient with hypothyroidism.
OBJECTIVE
A clinicopathological and clonal study of a pituitary tumor was made in a 26-year-old woman with chronic thyroiditis to differentiate TSH-producing adenoma from TSH hyperplasia.


METHODS
Tumor specimens were subjected to histopathological study and clonal analysis (HUMARA).


RESULTS
Immunohistochemical examination disclosed TSH-beta, PRL, GH, ACTH, FSH-beta, LH-beta, and alpha-subunit production in the adenoma cells. These heterogeneous phenotypes are characteristic of both thyrotroph hyperplasia and plurihormonal TSH-producing adenoma. However, the HUMARA method demonstrated monoclonality of the tumor cells.


CONCLUSIONS
Monoclonality of the tumor cells proved that the pituitary tumor was plurihormonal TSH-producing adenoma, not TSH hyperplasia.
Ma
Wenbin
W
Division of Neurosurgery, Tohoku Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Ikeda
Hidetoshi
H
Watabe
Noriaki
N
Kanno
Mitsunobu
M
Yoshimoto
Takashi
T
D000236:Adenoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000209:etiology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013966:Thyroiditis / Q000150:complications*; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D013972:Thyrotropin