Project Lead
Dr Yeung-Ae Park
BIO
Pituitary tumours are the second most common intracranial tumours. Gonadotroph adenomas are the most commonly resected pituitary tumour and, thus, the most available tissue for study. Prolactinomas are the most common pituitary adenomas, with a recent paradigm shift for surgery as an equal first-line therapy to dopamine agonists for well-circumscribed microprolactinomas, providing novel tissue for study. Both tumours express estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), which may have therapeutic implications.
We aim to enhance the understanding of ER and its signalling pathway in gonadotroph adenomas and prolactinomas by integrating multi-omic data and bioinformatic analyses using fresh frozen specimens from our established pituitary tumour tissue bank to identify potential therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers to enable precision medicine. Our findings could lead to drug repurposing of anti-estrogen therapies, such as selective estrogen receptor modulators, which have a well-established safety profile in ER-positive breast cancer.
Establishing targeted pharmacotherapy can improve patients’ quality of life by reducing tumour volume, recurrence or progression and prolactin levels without the risk of hypopituitarism associated with repeated operations or radiotherapy. Our research will provide a foundation for prospective studies evaluating the efficacy of anti-estrogen therapy and may be translational for the management of ERα-positive pituitary tumours.