Morphofunctional features of non-functioning pituitary adenomas

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Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) account for about 30% of all pituitary tumors. NFPAs are characterized by the lack of secretory potential or its weak expression insufficient for determination of the blood level of adenohypophyseal tropic hormones and for development of a specific clinical picture. Morphologically, NFPAs are a heterogeneous group of tumors, the classification of which was previously based only on immunoreactivity for pituitary tropic hormones. The WHO revised its Classification of Tumors of Endocrine Organs (4th edition) in 2017. The main changes relate to adenohypophysial-cell lineage for the designation of adenomas into subtypes. The introduction of transcription factor antibodies has become a fundamentally new approach to the classification of NFPAs, which is necessary to recognize less differentiated tumor types. This paper provides information on the new histopathological classification of pituitary adenomas, on the theories of silent adenomas, and on the proliferative and prognostic markers of NFPAs.

Keywords:

non-functioning pituitary adenomas

silent pituitary adenomas

high-risk pituitary adenomas

aggressiveness

transcription factors

immunohistochemical analysis

Authors:

Eremkina A.K.

National Medical Research Center for Endocrinology, Ministry of Health of Russia, Moscow, Russia

Dzeranova L.K.

ndokrinologicheskiĭ nauchnyĭ tsentr Minzdrava RF, Moskva

Pigarova E.K.

National Medical Research Center for Endocrinology, Ministry of Health of Russia, Moscow, Russia

Mokrysheva N.G.

Éndokrinologicheskiĭ nauchnyĭ tsentr, Moskva

Dedov I.I.

Endocrinology Research Centre

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