Granular Cell Tumor Of Neurohypophysis Research Articles

Histological features of pituitary adenomas and sellar region masses.

Most pituitary region masses are pituitary adenomas; however, when other sellar region masses are encountered by clinicians or pathologists, the differential diagnosis can be broad. This review will focus on updates for pituitary adenomas, as well as briefly discuss some of these other entities: Rathke cleft cyst, hypophysitis, craniopharyngioma, pituicytoma, and spindle cell oncocytoma. The use of new immunohistochemical (IHC) tools for assessing transcription factors, pituitary transcription factor-1, steroidogenic factor-1, and the not-yet-widely available Tpit IHC have provided insights into origin particularly of clinically silent and even hormone-negative pituitary adenomas. IHC for keratins coupled with use of E-cadherin IHC can serve to easily identify sparsely granulated growth hormone adenomas that behave more aggressively and may not respond well to some therapies. Thyroid transcription factor-1 IHC has shown common embryological lineage of pituicytoma, spindle cell oncocytoma, and granular cell tumor of neurohypophysis. IHC supplements classification of pituitary adenoma subtypes for clinicians and can confirm diagnosis of nonpituitary adenoma sellar region masses.

Sox10 Nuclear Immunostaining Lacks Diagnostic Utility for CNS Granular Cell Tumors

Sox10 immunohistochemistry has recently been shown to have diagnostic utility in differentiating typical granular cell tumors (GCTs) in skin and soft tissue from histological mimics (1–3). The overwhelming majority of cases studied have been of cutaneous origin (1–3), although Karamchandani et al included an unspecified number of soft tissue, laryngeal, and esophageal examples (2), and Heerema et al added 2 esophageal GCTs and 2 GCTs of neurohypophysis (3). All tumors from cutaneous and deep sites demonstrated strong diffuse nuclear immunoreactivity for Sox10, while the 2 neurohypophyseal examples were negative (3). To our knowledge, CNS GCTs, which are usually of high-grade astrocytic origin (4), have not yet been explored Given the important role of this transcription factor in neural crest, peripheral nervous system, and CNS development (albeit particularly for oligodendrocyte, not astrocytic, maturation in the CNS) (5), we hypothesized that CNS granular cell tumors might show Sox10 nuclear expression. Therefore, we immunostained CNS GCTs utilizing a polyclonal commercial antibody (Cell Marque Corp., Rocklin, CA). We first paralleled and extended the previous work with a study of 9 cutaneous (Fig. 1A) and 7 deep tissue GCTs from esophageal, colon, breast (n = 2), tongue, lung carina, and tracheal sites. These had been previously characterized at the time of initial diagnosis with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain alone, S100 immunostaining (Fig. 1B), or additional antibodies, but not Sox10. All granular …

Update on Hypophysitis and TTF‐1 Expressing Sellar Region Masses

This article reviews recent literature on sellar region masses that most closely mimic nonsecretory pituitary adenomas: hypophysitis, pituicytoma, spindle cell oncocytoma, and granular cell tumor of neurohypophysis. Even today, these four entities often cannot be confidently distinguished from each other clinically or by preoperative neuroimaging features. Thus, they often come to biopsy/surgical resection and require tissue confirmation of diagnosis. Causes of secondary and primary hypophysitis will be discussed, including two newly described types, IgG4 plasma cell hypophysitis and hypophysitis caused by anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 antibody therapy for cancer. For the neoplastic conditions, emphasis will be placed on literature that has emerged since these entities were first codified in the 2007 World Health Organization fascicle. The finding that immunohistochemical staining for thyroid transcription factor-1 is shared by pituicytoma, spindle cell oncocytoma, and granular cell tumor of neurohypophysis suggests common lineage and explains why histological overlap can be encountered. We incorporate our own experiences over the last 30 years from two referral institutions with specialty practices in pituitary region masses.

Granular cell tumor of the neurohypophysis: report of a case with unusual age presentation

Granular cell tumor (GCT) usually occurs as a solitary, small, nodular tumor and rarely grows to a sufficient size to present symptoms. The tumor is more prevalent in female adults. The authors report a case of an 8-year-old boy with GCT of the neurohypophysis presenting with central precocious puberty. Few cases of symptomatic GCT have been reported in the literature, none of them in a patient in the first decade of life. Clinical picture, histopathological features, and histogenesis of GCT of neurohypophysis are discussed.