Clinical Implications of Pituitary Adenomas Exhibiting Dual Transcription Factor Staining: A Case Series of 27 Patients
Recommended Citation
Bove I, Cheok SK, Feng JJ, Briggs RG, Ruzevick J, Cote DJ, Shah I, Little A, Laws E, Castro AV, Carmichael J, Shiroishi M, Hurth K, and Zada G. Clinical implications of pituitary adenomas exhibiting dual transcription factor staining: A case series of 27 patients. World Neurosurg 2023; 182:62.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2024
Publication Title
World Neurosurg
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: According to the 2017 World Health Organization classification of neuro-endocrine tumors, pituitary adenomas (PAs) are classified according to immunoexpression of the pituitary-specific transcription factors (TFs). A small subset of PAs exhibit multiple TF staining on immunohistochemistry and we present a series of 27 pathologically-confirmed cases of dual TF staining PAs (dsTF-PAs), and report clinically relevant implications.
METHODS: A retrospective chart review of a multi-institutional database of patients with PAs surgically resected between 2008-2021 was performed. PAs expressing immunopositivity 2+ TFs. Patient demographics, neuro-imaging characteristics, histopathologic findings, and clinical data were collected.
RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients had pathologically verified dsTF-PAs, of whom 17 were female (63%), with ages ranging from 20-84 years. Twenty-three (85.2%) patients harbored functional PAs, with acromegaly being the most common functional subtype (86.4%). The most common combination of TFs within a single tumor was PIT-1/SF-1 (85.2%). Six PAs exhibited Knosp cavernous sinus invasion grades of 3 or 4 and the Ki-67 labeling index was ≥3% in 6 patients (24.0%) and all stained for PIT-1/SF-1. Hormonal remission was achieved in 78% of functional dsTF-PAs. No PAs showed evidence of recurrence or progression over the mean follow-up period of 28.5 months.
CONCLUSIONS: PAs exhibiting dsTF-PAs represent a small but clinically relevant diagnostic subset of PAs according to the 2021 World Health Organization criteria, as a majority are GH-producing. Precise classification using TF staining plays a key role in understanding the biology of these tumors. Favorable outcomes can be achieved in this subset of PAs with evolving TF classification.
Medical Subject Headings
Humans; Female; Male; Pituitary Neoplasms; Retrospective Studies; Transcription Factors; Adenoma; Neurosurgical Procedures
PubMed ID
37967742
ePublication
ePub ahead of print
Volume
182
First Page
62
Last Page
62
