Are Pituitary Adenomas Hereditary?
In order for an individual to inherit a disorder from his or her parents, the gene change needs to have occurred in a reproductive cell (the sperm or the egg). If a gene change that leads to the formation of a pituitary tumor occurs in a pituitary cell, that change will not be passed on to his or her children. There are several syndromes which are inherited (the gene change is in the reproductive cells) that can include pituitary tumors as part of the diagnosis. Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. Abbreviated MEN-1, a condition involving tumors of the pituitary gland, parathyroid gland, and the pancreas, is a familial syndrome. Nearly half of all individuals diagnosed with MEN-1 will develop a pituitary adenoma, most of which are Prolactinoma’s. MEN-1 is considered a dominant disorder since a change in only one copy of the MEN-1 gene will cause the disease.
In order for an individual to inherit a disorder from his or her parents, the gene change needs to have occurred in a reproductive cell (the sperm or the egg). If a gene change that leads to the formation of a pituitary tumor occurs in a pituitary cell, that change will not be passed on to his or her children. There are several syndromes which are inherited (the gene change is in the reproductive cells) that can include pituitary tumors as part of the diagnosis. Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. Abbreviated MEN-1, a condition involving tumors of the pituitary gland, parathyroid gland, and the pancreas, is a familial syndrome. Nearly half of all individuals diagnosed with MEN-1 will develop a pituitary adenoma, most of which are Prolactinoma’s. MEN-1 is considered a dominant disorder since a change in only one copy of the MEN-1 gene will cause the disease. Because of this, an individual diagnosed with MEN-1 will have a 50% chance of passing the altered gene on to his or her children.
