Pituitary tumorigenesis: Role of the wnt signaling pathway

Abstract

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013. Wnt signaling is important in the regulation of normal embryological development of the pituitary gland. Many human tumors have been identi fi ed as having altered Wnt signaling and recently the Wnt signaling pathways have also been identi fi ed as being perturbed in pituitary adenomas. Whilst data on the presence of nuclear b -catenin, the central mediator of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, have been con fl icting, altered expression of the Wnt signaling pathway inhibitors, WIF1 and members of the SFRP family appear to be common in pituitary adenomas and are likely to contribute to pituitary tumorigenesis. The mechanism by which this occurs is yet to be elucidated but is likely to occur through one of the non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways. Targeting Wnt signaling may prove to be a novel therapeutic option for pituitary tumors. However, due to our incomplete understanding of the roles of the different Wnt pathways in pituitary tumors and the crosstalk between pathways, such therapy needs to be carefully studied due to the potential for unexpected deleterious or long-term consequences.