{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T12:42:28Z","timestamp":1785760948611,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Bioscientifica","issue":"7","content-domain":{"domain":["erc.bioscientifica.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Pituitary tumorigenesis is highly prevalent and causes major endocrine disorders. Hardly anything is known on the behavior of the local stem cells in this pathology. Here, we explored the stem cells\u2019 biology in mouse and human pituitary tumors using transcriptomic, immunophenotyping and organoid approaches. In the prolactinoma-growing pituitary of dopamine receptor D2 knock-out mice, the stem cell population displays an activated state in terms of proliferative activity and distinct cytokine\/chemokine phenotype. Organoids derived from the tumorous glands\u2019 stem cells recapitulated these aspects of the stem cells\u2019 activation nature. Upregulated cytokines, in particular interleukin-6, stimulated the stem cell-derived organoid development and growth process. In human pituitary tumors, cells typified by expression of stemness markers, in particular SOX2 and SOX9, were found present in a wide variety of clinical tumor types, also showing a pronounced proliferative status. Organoids efficiently developed from human tumor samples, displaying a stemness phenotype as well as tumor-specific expression fingerprints. Transcriptomic analysis revealed fading of cytokine pathways at organoid development and passaging, but their reactivation did not prove capable of rescuing early organoid expansion and passageability arrest. Taken together, our study revealed and underscored an activated phenotype of the pituitary-resident stem cells in tumorigenic glands and tumors. Our findings pave the way to defining the functional position of the local stem cells in pituitary tumor pathogenesis, at present barely known. Deeper insight can lead to more efficient and targeted clinical management, currently still not satisfactorily.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1530\/erc-21-0374","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,6]],"date-time":"2022-05-06T06:41:26Z","timestamp":1651819286000},"page":"427-450","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/crossmarkpolicy-8","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Exploring stem cell biology in pituitary tumors and derived organoids"],"prefix":"10.1530","volume":"29","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8917-7934","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Charlotte","family":"Nys","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"1Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2472-417X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Yu-Lun","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7860-8559","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Heleen","family":"Roose","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2580-0496","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Freya","family":"Mertens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"},{"name":"2Department of Imaging and Pathology, UZ Leuven (University Hospitals Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5965-7600","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ellen","family":"De Pauw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8734-2713","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hiroto","family":"Kobayashi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"},{"name":"3Department of Anatomy and Structural Science, Yamagata University Faculty of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2244-5839","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Raf","family":"Sciot","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"2Department of Imaging and Pathology, UZ Leuven (University Hospitals Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4484-4200","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Marie","family":"Bex","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"4Department of Endocrinology, UZ Leuven (University Hospitals Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8650-0481","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Georges","family":"Versyck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"5Department of Neurosurgery, UZ Leuven (University Hospitals Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9576-9917","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Steven","family":"De Vleeschouwer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"5Department of Neurosurgery, UZ Leuven (University Hospitals Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4684-0051","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Johannes","family":"Van Loon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"5Department of Neurosurgery, UZ Leuven (University Hospitals Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0799-3116","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Emma","family":"Laporte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2251-7284","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hugo","family":"Vankelecom","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"416","container-title":["Endocrine-Related Cancer"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/erc.bioscientifica.com\/view\/journals\/erc\/29\/7\/ERC-21-0374.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/erc.bioscientifica.com\/downloadpdf\/journals\/erc\/29\/7\/ERC-21-0374.xml","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T13:56:12Z","timestamp":1784555772000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/journals.bioscientifica.com\/erc\/article\/29\/7\/427-450\/25678"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,1]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7"},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/erc-21-0374","relation":{},"ISSN":["1351-0088","1479-6821"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1351-0088","type":"print"},{"value":"1479-6821","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,1]]}}}