DNA Methylation of Tumor Suppressor Genes in Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumors.

Context: Epigenetic alterations may play a role in the development and behavior of pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs).

Objective: To evaluate the effect of methylation of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) on their gene expression and on the behavior of PitNETs.

Material And Methods: We used methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification and quantitative real-time PCR techniques to analyze the DNA-promoter hypermethylation and gene expression of 35 TSGs in 105 PitNETs.

Is it time to consider the expression of specific-pituitary hormone genes when typifying pituitary tumours?

The aim of the present study is to check whether we can replicate, in an independent series, previous results showing that the molecular study of pituitary-specific gene expression complements the inmunohistochemical identification of pituitary neuroendocrine tumours. We selected 112 patients (51 (46.4%) women; mean age 51.