Characterization of pituitary cells targeted by antipituitary antibodies in patients with isolated autoimmune diseases without pituitary insufficiency may help to foresee the kind of future hypopituitarism

Purpose Detection of antipituitary antibodies (APA) at high levels and with a particular immunofluorescence pattern in patients with autoimmune polyendocrine syndromes may indicate a possible future autoimmune pituitary involvement. This longitudinal study was aimed at characterizing in patients with a single organ-specific autoimmune disease the pituitary cells targeted by APA at start, verifying whether this characterization allows to foresee the kind of possible subsequent hypopituitarism.