It is concluded that anterior pituitary function in patients with PROP1 mutations deteriorates progressively and includes adrenal insufficiency as a feature of this condition, which has important clinical relevance in childhood and adolescence.
In addition to GH, TSH, PRL and gonadotropin deficiency, patients with PROP-1 gene mutations can present with late-onset central hypocortisolism, possibly beause of the lack of important paracrine factors normally produced by the cells surrounding the corticotropes and absent in the pituitary of these patients, or because of progressive corticotrope apoptosis.