Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Three-dimensional Alginate-bead Culture of Human Pituitary Adenoma Cells
Published on: February 18, 2016
Circular RNA In Invasive and Recurrent Clinical Nonfunctioning Pituitary Adenomas: Expression Profiles and
Jianpeng Wang1, Dong Wang2, Dehong Wan3
1Department of Neurosurgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China; Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Background:
The invasion and recurrence of clinical nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFA) often lead to surgical treatment failure. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of RNAs whose 3' and 5' ends are joined together and have been shown to play important roles in cancer development. Until now, the roles of circRNAs have remained unclear in invasive and recurrent NFA.
Methods:
We detected and summarized the circRNA expression pattern in 75 NFA tissues from 10 noninvasive cases and 65 invasive cases and 9 pairs of NFA tumor tissues from 9 recurrent cases by circRNA microarrays. Accordingly, functional enrichment analysis and pathway analysis were performed and the circRNA-microRNA (miRNA) network was generated by bioinformatic analysis tools. Five new invasive NFA samples and 5 noninvasive NFA samples were collected to measure the microarray results.
Results:
A total of 570 dysregulated circRNAs (invasive tumor vs. noninvasive tumor) and 10 upregulated circRNAs (recurrent tumor tissue vs. first surgery tumor tissue) were identified based on the situation (fold change >2; P < 0.05). The parental genes of the dysregulated circRNAs in the comparison between invasion tumor and noninvasion tumor were found to be enriched in some cell adhesion signaling pathways such as Focal adhesion, Hippo signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and Adherens junction. The circRNA-miRNA network showed that the dysregulated circRNA may function as miRNA sponges.
Conclusions:
This is the first study to conduct and comprehensively analyze the circRNA expression profile in invasive and recurrent NFA. Our finding will provide evidence for the significance of circRNAs in NFA diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical treatment.
Related Concept Videos
Hypothalamic-Pituitary Axis
Hormones of the Pituitary Gland
The most abundantly secreted hormone from the anterior lobe is the growth hormone, which controls overall growth by...
The Pituitary Gland
Deformation in a Circular Shaft
What is Gene Expression?
Gene expression is the process in which DNA directs the synthesis of functional products, that is, proteins. Cells can regulate gene expression at various stages. It allows organisms to generate different cell types and enables cells to adapt to internal and external factors.
Genetic Information Flows from DNA to RNA to Protein
A gene is a stretch of DNA that serves as the blueprint for functional RNAs and proteins. Since DNA is made up of nucleotides and proteins consist of amino...
Statistical Software for Data Analysis and Clinical Trials

