Elucidation of the mechanism and clinical application of autoimmune pituitary disease

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K09431
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Endocrinology
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: IGUCHI GENZO 神戸大学, 医学部附属病院, 講師 (60346260)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 高橋 裕 神戸大学, 医学研究科, 准教授 (70301281)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 自己免疫性下垂体疾患 / 抗PIT-1抗体症候群 / 腫瘍随伴症候群

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We collected a patient with autoimmune pituitary disease, reported one case of male and one case of female case with anti-PIT-1 antibody syndrome, and reported a total of 5 cases.It also revealed that IgG4-related hypophysitis is associated with 5% of IgG4 associated autoimmune pancreatitis.
Thymomas were found in all patients with anti-PIT-1 antibody syndrome and proved to be due to ectopic expression of PIT-1 protein in thymoma cells (Sci Rep. 2017 ). From these result, we proposed a novel concept of thymoma-associated autoimmune disease as a cause of autoimmune pituitary disease.

Free Research Field

内分泌学