Silent somatotroph adenomas of the human pituitary. A morphologic study of three cases including immunocytochemistry, electron microscopy, in vitro examination, and in situ hybridization.
- 1 February 1989
- journal article
- case report
- Vol. 134 (2), 345-53
Abstract
Pituitary adenomas, removed surgically from three women with normal or slightly elevated serum growth hormone levels and no evidence of acromegaly, were studied. The tumor cells were shown by electron microscopy to correspond to sparsely granulated somatotrophs but immunocytochemistry showed that they contained no, moderate, or little growth hormone. Two tumors examined in vitro secreted small amounts of growth hormone in the tissue culture medium initially with a spontaneous rise after several days, and responded to growth hormone-releasing hormone stimulation with increased growth hormone release. In situ hybridization demonstrated growth hormone mRNA expression in adenoma cells. Clinically silent somatotroph adenomas represent a hitherto undescribed entity; electron microscopy shows that they consist of somatotrophs, and express growth hormone mRNA but do not secrete growth hormone in amounts needed to raise substantially serum growth hormone levels and cause acromegaly. Further work is required to clarify the mechanisms accounting for the lack of clinical and biochemical evidence of hormone excess associated with these tumors.This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit:
- Abnormalities of the Human Growth Hormone Gene and Protooncogenes in Some Human Pituitary AdenomasMolecular Endocrinology, 1988
- Use of molecular probes in the study of endocrine diseasesHuman Pathology, 1987
- Contributions of immunohistochemical and molecular biological techniques to endocrine pathology.Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, 1987
- Pathology of Pituitary TumorsEndocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America, 1987
- Application of in situ DNA hybridization technology to diagnostic surgical pathology.1987
- The Molecular Nature of Circulating Growth Hormone in Normal and Acromegalic Man: Evidence for a Principal and Minor Monomeric Forms*Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 1983
- Corticolipotropin immunoreactivity in silent chromophobe adenomas: a light and electron microscopic study.1982
- The Use of Antiavidin Antibody and Avidin-Biotin-Peroxidase Complex in Immunoperoxidase TechnicsAmerican Journal of Clinical Pathology, 1981
- A Comparative Study of the Peroxidase-antiperoxidase Method and an Avidin-Biotin Complex Method for Studying Polypeptide Hormones with Radioimmunoassay AntibodiesAmerican Journal of Clinical Pathology, 1981
- Human prolactin. cDNA structural analysis and evolutionary comparisons.Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1981