Anti-pituitary antibodies as a marker of autoimmunity in pituitary glands.
Autoimmunity contributes to the pathogenesis of hypophysitis, a chronic inflammatory disease in the pituitary gland. Although primary hypophysitis is rare, the number of pituitary dysfunction cases induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is increasing. While it is difficult to prove the involvement of autoimmunity in the pituitary glands, circulating anti-pituitary antibodies (APAs) can be measured by indirect immunofluorescence and used as a surrogate marker of pituitary autoimmunity. APAs are present in several pituitary diseases, including lymphocytic adenohypophysitis, lymphocytic infundibulo-neurohypophysitis (LINH), IgG4-related hypophysitis, and pituitary dysfunction induced by ICIs. Mass spectrometry analysis of antigens targeted by APAs clarified rabphilin-3A as an autoantigen in LINH. This demonstrates that APAs can be applied as a probe to identify novel autoantigens in other pituitary autoimmune diseases, including pituitary dysfunction induced by ICIs, which can aid in biomarker discovery.
['Iwama|Shintaro|S|', 'Arima|Hiroshi|H|']
D000818:Animals D001323:Autoantibodies D000069281:Autoimmune Hypophysitis D015415:Biomarkers D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect D006801:Humans D000082082:Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors D000077733:Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease D010902:Pituitary Gland
Autoantibody Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 Diabetes insipidus Hypopituitarism Programmed cell death 1