Gonadotroph
tumors, although frequent, are poorly studied and understood, being usually included in the larger nonfunctioning pituitary
neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) group. Moreover, in comparison to the other types of PitNETs, no established medical treatment is currently available for gonadotroph
tumors. Here, we performed a retrospective study and analyzed the clinicopathological characteristics of 98 gonadotroph
tumors operated in a single large pituitary center. Although being larger in men (p = 0.01), the aggressiveness of gonadotroph
tumors did not appear to be sex-related. LH
tumors were rare (4/98) and exclusively encountered in men.
Somatostatin receptor type 5 (SST5) was absent in all analyzed
tumors. The immunoreactive score (IRS) of
somatostatin receptor type 2 (SST2) and of
estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) was associated with the histological subtype (p = 0.01 and p = 0.02). IRS ERα correlated moderately with IRS SST2 in all (rho = 0.44, adjusted p-value = 0.0001) and in male (rho = 0.51, adjusted p-value = 0.0002) patients, and with
follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) percentage in all (rho = 0.40, adjusted p-value = 0.0005) and in female (rho = 0.58, adjusted p-value = 0.004) patients. In conclusion, gonadotroph
tumors exhibit histological characteristics pinpointing the existence of several subtypes. Their heterogeneity warrants further investigations and may have to be taken into account when studying these
tumors and investigating treatment options.