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GLYCOPROTEIN HORMONE α SUBUNIT SECRETION BY PITUITARY ADENOMAS: INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL IRRADIATION
Author(s) -
MACFARLANE I. A.,
BEARDWELL C. G.,
SHALET S. M.,
DARBYSHIRE P. J.,
HAYWARD ELIZABETH,
SUTTON M. L.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
clinical endocrinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1365-2265
pISSN - 0300-0664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1980.tb01045.x
Subject(s) - acromegaly , medicine , endocrinology , pituitary adenoma , pituitary gland , hormone , pituitary neoplasm , adenoma , g alpha subunit , incidence (geometry) , pituitary tumors , alpha (finance) , biology , protein subunit , surgery , growth hormone , physics , optics , biochemistry , construct validity , patient satisfaction , gene
SUMMARY In ninety‐nine patients with pituitary adenomas, forty‐six with acromegaly, the serum level of the glycoprotein hormone α subunit was elevated in eighteen cases. Thirteen of these were acromegalic and one had an FSH‐producing tumour. Alpha levels varied little during the day, from one day to the next and over a 6 month period. In twenty‐five patients with a variety of other hypothalamic‐pituitary disorders examined, one patient with a craniopharyngioma had a mildly elevated α level. External pituitary irradiation was followed by an acute and often transient fall in α level in several of these patients. Of the fifty‐four patients with pituitary adenomas who had received external irradiation before testing, only five had elevated α subunit levels compared with thirteen patients of the forty‐five who had not been irradiated. This difference in incidence of elevated α level was statistically significant ( P < 0·025). We conclude that external irradiation may reduce a subunit level chronically in many patients with pituitary adenoma.