A Rare Case of Recurrent Pituitary Collision Tumors

Almoutaz Shakally; Naoyuki Tahara; Brent Clark; Ramachandra Tummala; Emiro Caicedo-Granados; Yasuhiko Kawakami; Takako Araki

doi:10.1210/jendso/bvaa089

A Rare Case of Recurrent Pituitary Collision Tumors

J Endocr Soc. 2020 Jul 2;4(9):bvaa089. doi: 10.1210/jendso/bvaa089. eCollection 2020 Sep 1.

Authors

Almoutaz Shakally¹, Naoyuki Tahara^{2

3}, Brent Clark⁴, Ramachandra Tummala⁵, Emiro Caicedo-Granados⁶, Yasuhiko Kawakami^{2

3}, Takako Araki¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
² Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
³ Stem Cell Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
⁶ Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Abstract

Pituitary collision tumors are sporadically reported and rare. We present a case of pituitary collision tumors with nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) and craniopharyngioma. In order to look for any common activated pathway, we examined WNT/β-CATENIN signaling activation, known to be involved in tumorigenesis in both craniopharyngioma and NFPA. We found nuclear accumulation of β-CATENIN protein and expression of LEF1 protein, markers of active β-CATENIN signaling in the craniopharyngioma but not in the pituitary adenomas. In our case, the NFPA is invasive macroadenoma, which is a frequently identified type of pituitary adenoma in collision tumor cases. Recurrence of this tumor was first observed after 8 years of follow-up. Based on this case, we suggest that pituitary collision tumors require long-term follow-up.

Publication types

Case Reports

Grants and funding

R01 AR064195/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/United States