Potential of retinoic acid derivatives for the treatment of corticotroph pituitary adenomas

Cushing’s disease is a severe clinical condition caused by hypersecretion of corticosteroids due to excessive ACTH secretion from a pituitary adenoma. This complex endocrine disorder still represents a major challenge for the physician in terms of efficient treatment. In the last years there was onl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders 2009-06, Vol.10 (2), p.103-109
Main Authors: Labeur, Marta, Paez-Pereda, Marcelo, Arzt, Eduardo, Stalla, Günter K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ACTH-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma - drug therapy
ACTH-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma - metabolism
Animals
Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use
Diabetes
Endocrinology
Humans
Internal Medicine
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion - drug therapy
Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion - metabolism
Pituitary Neoplasms - drug therapy
Pituitary Neoplasms - metabolism
Tretinoin - analogs & derivatives
Tretinoin - therapeutic use
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cushing’s disease is a severe clinical condition caused by hypersecretion of corticosteroids due to excessive ACTH secretion from a pituitary adenoma. This complex endocrine disorder still represents a major challenge for the physician in terms of efficient treatment. In the last years there was only little progress in elucidating the molecular mechanisms responsible for the constitutive and autonomous ACTH secretion of pituitary corticotrophinomas. As a consequence, no effective drug therapy is currently available, particularly if surgical excision is not successful. In the present article we examine recent studies that have investigated the therapeutic potential of retinoic acid receptors as nuclear receptor targets for the treatment of Cushing’s disease. Retinoic acid is an efficient drug used for the treatment of different types of cancers and it proved to act in animal models of Cushing’s disease. The efficiency of this treatment in patients with this disorder still needs to be tested in clinical trials.
ISSN:1389-9155
1573-2606
DOI:10.1007/s11154-008-9080-6