Unmasking a new prognostic marker and therapeutic target from the GDNF-RET/PIT1/p14ARF/p53 pathway in acromegaly.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Acromegaly is produced by excess growth hormone secreted by a pituitary adenoma of somatotroph cells (ACRO). First-line therapy, surgery and adjuvant therapy with somatostatin analogs, fails in 25% of patients. There is no predictive factor of resistance to therapy. New therapies are investigated using few dispersed tumor cells in acute primary cultures in standard conditions where the cells do not grow, or using rat pituitary cell lines that do not maintain the full somatotroph phenotype. The RET/PIT1/p14ARF/p53 pathway regulates apoptosis in normal pituitary somatotrophs whereas the RET/GDNF pathway regulates survival, controlling PIT1 levels and blocking p14ARF (ARF) and p53 expression.

Methods

We investigated these two RET pathways in a prospective series of 3

SUBMITTER: Chenlo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6562173 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature