Pituitary Research at UVA

[~MaryO~]

http://hsc.virginia.edu/medcntr....ch.html

 

Pituitary Research

The following pituitary research is underway at the University of Virginia Health System.

 

Neural net analysis in Cushing's disease (Reitmeyer)

Visual disturbances in Cushing's disease - corneal edema, lens alterations, glaucoma (Newman)

IGF-1 pre- and postop

Outcome assessments for Gamma Knife radiosurgery (Vance)

Recovery from pit insufficiency after surgery

Metabolic (functional) imaging of pit tumors treated by medical Rx and Gamma Knife

SPECT studies of pit adenomas (octreotide, MIBG)

Intraoperative measurement of ACTH, GH, PRL (Pajewski)

Genomic instability in recurrent adenomas (Clayton)

Genomic comparisons by age within tumor groups (e.g. PRL, GH, NFA's Cushing's)

Genomic comparisons by tumor subtype for acromegaly

Genomic characterization of aggressive (malignant) adenomas

Probe nl pit for nestin (precursor marker) & correlate with tumors

Characterization of DA unresponsive prolactinomas (receptors, genome)

Hypothalamic hormones as ligands for treatment

ER mutations in pit adenomas (Shupnik)

X- inactivation clonality studies in nl pit, 1? tumors and 2? tumors - sheep pits

IGF-1 and IGF-1R in invasive adenomas (consider also EGPR, VEGF) (Lopes)

CMR or CBF studies in Cushing's (correlation with cerebral atrophy)

TRH Stimulated GN adenoma suspects tested for ? su, FSH, LH

POMC to follow silent ACTH tumors - in situ hybridization for D2 receptors -? monoclonal origin of tumor

Time course of cortisol decrease in operated Cushing's disease patients (Simmons-Thorner)

Outcome assessment of pts. with craniopharyngioma (Rogol)

CDNA probes for MEN-1 genes in sporadic pituitary adenomas

Pituitary tumor cell culture and chemosensitivity testing (Kornblith)

Molecular defects in GH adenomas (Cutler & Selman)

Maintenance and cataloging of pituitary tumor tissue and blood bank (Wagner-Lopes)

Pituitary tumor data base project (Thorner-Boyd)

CDNA libraries for aggressive, recurrent and unusual adenomas

Cerebral atrophy on MRI in Cushing's patients and control