title: Familial pituitary adenomas.
abstract: The majority of pituitary adenomas occur sporadically, however, about 5% of all cases occur in a familial setting, of which over half are due to multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) and Carney's complex (CNC). Since the late 1990s we have described non-MEN1/CNC familial pituitary tumours that include all tumour phenotypes, a condition named familial isolated pituitary adenomas (FIPA). The clinical characteristics of FIPA vary from those of sporadic pituitary adenomas, as patients with FIPA have a younger age at diagnosis and larger tumours. About 15% of FIPA patients have mutations in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein gene (AIP), which indicates that FIPA may have a diverse genetic pathophysiology. This review describes the clinical features of familial pituitary adenomas like MEN1, the MEN 1-like syndrome MEN-4, CNC, FIPA, the tumour pathologies found in this setting and the genetic/molecular data that have been recently reported.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège, University of Liège, Domaine Universitaire du Sart-Tilman, Liège 4000, Belgium.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Tichomirowa
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beckers
mesh_terms: D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018761:Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D009386:Neoplastic Syndromes, Hereditary / Q000235:genetics*; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*