McCune Albright syndrome in association with excessive GH secretion: case report

A head start: The relationship of placental factors to craniofacial and brain development

In recent years, the importance of placental function for fetal neurodevelopment has become increasingly studied. This field, known as neuroplacentology, has greatly expanded possible etiologies of neurodevelopmental disorders by exploring the influence of placental function on brain development. It is also well-established that brain development is influenced by craniofacial morphogenesis. However, there is less focus on the impact of the placenta on craniofacial development. Recent research suggests the functional influence of placental nutrients and hormones on craniofacial skeletal growth, such as prolactin, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor 1, vitamin D, sulfate, and calcium, impacting both craniofacial and brain development. Therefore, interactions between the placenta and both fetal neurodevelopment and craniofacial development likely influence the growth and morphology of the head as a whole. This review discusses the role of placental hormone production and nutrient delivery in the development of the fetal head-defined as craniofacial and brain tissue together-expanding on the more established focus on brain development to also include the skull (or cranium) and face.

Craniofacial Fibrous Dysplasia Involvements of Mccune-Albright Syndrome: A Review with an Additional Case

BACKGROUND

McCune-Albright Syndrome (MAS) is a genetic disorder with a triad of endocrine diseases, café-au-lait macules and fibrous dysplasias. Craniofacial fibrous dysplasia is a term that is used to describe the fibrous dysplasia, which was localized at the craniofacial skeleton and is common in MAS patients.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this review is to determine the involvement frequency of cranial and facial bones in patients with MAS and CFD.

METHODS

Articles in PubMed was searched with the following details "(mccune[Title/Abstract] OR albright[Title/Abstract]) OR ("craniofacial fibrous dysplasia"[MeSH Terms] OR ("craniofacial"[ All Fields] AND "fibrous"[All Fields] AND "dysplasia"[All Fields]) OR "craniofacial fibrous dysplasia"[All Fields])". The articles in which the authors did not state the involved bones or did not add any radiographic images were excluded from the study.

RESULTS

26 cases in 25 articles met the inclusion criteria. Among the 26 cases and our case, sphenoid and frontal bones were involved in 17 cases, parietal and occipital bones were involved in 15 cases, mandible and ethmoid bone were involved in 14 cases, maxilla-zygoma-temporal and palate was involved in 13, 11, 6 and 3 cases, respectively. Palate was involved in cases where maxilla was also involved. Our case was the only case that was evaluated with CBCT.

CONCLUSION

Routine follow-ups are important since new CFDs can occur in different cranial or facial bones. 2D imaging techniques may not be able to demonstrate early CFDs; thus, an advanced imaging technique should be used after MAS diagnosis.

MicroRNA-200b inhibits pituitary tumor cell proliferation and invasion by targeting PKCα

The present study aimed to investigate the expression of miR-200b and protein kinase Cα (PKCα) in pituitary tumors and to determine whether miR-200b may inhibit proliferation and invasion of pituitary tumor cells. The regulation of PKCα expression was targeted in order to find novel targets for the treatment of pituitary tumors. In total, 53 pituitary tumor tissue samples were collected; these included 28 cases of invasive pituitary tumors and 25 cases of non-invasive tumors, in addition to 5 normal pituitaries. The expression level of miR-200b in the pituitary tumor tissue was detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and the expression of PKCα protein was detected by immunohistochemistry. A PKCα 3'untranslated region (UTR) luciferase vector was constructed and a dual luciferase reporter gene assay was employed in order to examine the effect of miR-200b on the PKCα 3'UTR luciferase activity. AtT-20 cells were transfected with miR-200b mimics, PKCα siRNA and miR-200b mimics + PKCα, and the changes in cellular proliferation, invasion and apoptosis were observed via MTT, Transwell assay and flow cytometric analysis. Furthermore, PKCα mRNA expression was determined by qPCR, and Western blotting was performed to detect the expression of PKCα protein. miR-200b revealed downregulation in invasive pituitary tumor tissue, and the expression level was significantly down-regulated compared with normal and non-invasive pituitary tumor tissue (P<0.01). In addition, the positive rate of PKCα protein expression in invasive pituitary tumor tissues was significantly higher than in normal and non-invasive tissues (P<0.01). PKCα protein levels are inversely correlated with miR-200b levels in invasive pituitary tumor tissues (r=-0.436, P=0.021). The dual luciferase reporter gene assay revealed that miR-200b could specifically bind to the 3'UTR of PKCα and significantly inhibit the luciferase activity by 39% (P<0.01). Upregulation of miR-200b or downregulation of PKCα could suppress cell proliferation and invasion, and increase apoptosis of AtT-20 cells. It was revealed that PKCα siRNA could suppress both proliferation and invasion of AtT-20 cells and partially simulate the function of miR-200b. Expression of PKCα mRNA and protein decreased significantly in AtT-20 cells overexpressing miR-200b. Additionally, miR-200b was significantly down-regulated in invasive pituitary tumor tissue and inversely correlated with PKCα protein levels. In conclusion, miR-200b inhibited proliferation and invasiveness and promoted the apoptosis of pituitary tumor cells by targeting PKCα. The observations of the present study indicate that miR-200b and PKCα may serve as promising therapeutic targets for invasive pituitary tumors.