Pituitary cellular hypersensitivity in idiopathic hypopituitarism.

Lymphocyte transformation in response to a saline extract of human pituitary was used to evaluate anti-pituitary immunity in patients with idiopathic hypopituitarism. Nine normal subjects and three children with idiopathic hypopituitarism were studied. Lymphocytes of one patient were significantly reactive to pituitary extract (beyond the 95% tolerance limits of the normal subjects) at five and eleven months after the diagnosis of hypopituitarism. The anti-pituitary hypersensitivity appeared organ specific since there was no lymphocyte reactivity to human thyroid extract in this patient. The presence of alopecia universalis, dystrophic nails and a primary immunodeficiency state suggests an autoimmune basis of his hypopituitary state. Due to hypogammaglobulinaemia and the lack of pituitary cell antibodies in this child, a humoral role in the development of his hypopituitarism is not supported.