We examined the frequency of AIP mutations in pituitary tumors and blood of Canadian patients with sporadic pituitary somatotroph adenomas and sporadic pituitary adenomas of other types.
These results suggest that Q228K and Q307R variants in the AIP gene might be involved in the genetic susceptibility to familial and sporadic pituitary adenomas (somatotrophinoma and corticotrophinoma) in the Turkish population.
This study implies for the first time that a failure to inhibit cAMP synthesis through dysfunctional Gαi signaling underlies the development of GH-secreting pituitary adenomas in AIP mutation carriers.
In this review, we summarise the most recent studies on AIP-related pituitary adenomas, paying special attention to the causes of somatostatin resistance; the somatostatin receptor profile including type 2, type 5 and truncated variants; the role of G proteins in this pathology; the use of first and second generation somatostatin analogues; and the role of ZAC1, a zinc-finger protein with expression linked to AIP in somatotrophinoma models and acting as a key mediator of octreotide response.