Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 gene expression is normal in sporadic adrenocortical tumors.

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is an autosomal dominant disorder with neoplasia of the anterior pituitary, the parathyroid, the endocrine pancreas and other endocrine tissues including the adrenal cortex. The tumor-suppressor gene causing this disease was identified at the gene locus 11q13. We recently reported that adrenocortical carcinomas frequently show loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of 11q13, but do not contain point mutations within the MEN1-coding region. To investigate whether reduced gene expression (for example by mutations within the MEN1 promoter) may contribute to the tumorigenesis of sporadic adrenocortical tumors, 24 adrenocortical specimen were studied by Northern …