Around 10% of pituitary tumors are estimated to be aggressive and associated with poor prognosis. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in chromosome 11q13 has been observed in aggressive pituitary tumors (APTs). Both MEN1 and AIP, located on 11q13 with an interval of 2.7 Mb, have been discovered as genetic markers of APTs. We aimed to investigate whether 11q13 LOH covering MEN1 and AIP in pituitary tumors associate with aggressiveness and the possible interactive mechanism of the two genes. A systematic case review was conducted to search for pituitary tumors with 11q13 LOH covering MEN1 and AIP. Individual clinical data were extracted from articles meeting the selection criteria, including demographic information, genetic variations, tumor size, tumor type, aggressive features, therapy and prognoses. Bioinformatics analysis was applied to explore underlying pathogenic mechanisms. 11q13 LOH covering MEN1 and AIP was reported in 16 pituitary tumor cases. Patients were aged 30 ± 10 years old with 10 males and 6 females. 75.00% had macroadenomas. There were 56.25% GH-, 12.50% ACTH-, and 31.25% GH-PRL-secreting tumors. 68.75% had features suggesting aggressiveness, including clinical invasiveness, post-operative persistence, recurrence, and metastasis. Concurrent dysfunction of MEN1 and AIP possibly induced the tumorigenesis by strengthening the same pathogenesis pathway. 11q13 LOH covering MEN1 and AIP in pituitary tumors relates to features suggestive of aggressiveness and poor outcome. Dual dysfunction of these two tumorigenesis genes could interact to exert pathogenic mechanisms. We were the first to propose that this concomitant mutation in pituitary tumors might be a unique genetic subtype.



