Akting and cycling: a tale of the pituitary.
Pituitary tumours are characterized by a series of phenotypic abnormalities, but the molecular nature of the underlying defects has proved peculiarly intractable. Oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes involved in other tumours do not appear to play a major role in the pathogenesis of pituitary tumours. In addition, germline genetic disorders in which pituitary tumours are a common feature have not shed much light on the more common sporadic tumour. A number of defects in specific feedback regulation in the secretory tumours have been identified, but it is presently unclear as to what extent these are a consequence of the tumour, possibly enhancing its growth or survival, rather than the cause. However, recent studies on the cell cycle have demonstrated significant abnormalities that have been traced to a cytoplasmic kinase which appears to be abnormally expressed in the majority of pituitary adenomas, and we are beginning to see a possible unifying abnormality.
Grossman
Ashley B
AB
Department of Endocrinology, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK. a.b.grossman@qmul.ac.uk
Korbonits
Márta
M
D000236:Adenoma / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D025461:Feedback, Physiological; D006801:Humans; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt