TY - JOUR AB - Pituitary tumors may secrete hormones that affect pregnancy. Pregnancy also induces pituitary tumor growth; however, how pregnancy increases the growth of pituitary tumors remains unclear. The present study investigated pregnant female mice with subcutaneous pituitary tumors. The time of tumor occurrence and tumor weight were detected in pregnant and control mice. Tumor weights were measured at the end of the experiment. Blood was collected from pregnant and control mice. Brain‑derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in the blood were detected using an ELISA kit. The in vitro effects of BDNF on pituitary tumor AtT‑20 cell proliferation and cell cycle were investigated. It was revealed that pregnancy promoted the growth of pituitary tumors. In comparison to non‑pregnant mice, the pregnant mice exhibited increased BDNF levels in the blood. In vitro BDNF treatment was able to increase the rate of proliferation of pituitary tumor cells. Additional cell cycle analysis revealed that BDNF was able to alter the cell cycle distribution of pituitary tumor cells. These results indicated that pregnancy was able to increase the BDNF level and promote the growth of pituitary tumor cells by increasing the rate of the cell cycle, leading to increased tumor growth rate in vivo. The present study provides insights into how pregnancy affects the growth of pituitary tumors. Therefore, it may be beneficial to perform pituitary tumor diagnosis or therapy on pregnant patients. AD - Department of Neurosurgery, Shandong Traffic Hospital, Jinan, Shandong 250031, P.R. China Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal and Child Health Care of Shandong, Jinan, Shandong 250031, P.R. China AU - Yin,Changjiang AU - Qi,Xiaoxia DA - 2017/10/01 DO - 10.3892/ol.2017.6756 EP - 4877 IS - 4 JO - Oncol Lett KW - pregnancy pituitary tumor proliferation cell cycle quiescence PY - 2017 SN - 1792-1074 1792-1082 SP - 4873 ST - Pregnancy promotes pituitary tumors by increasing the rate of the cell cycle T2 - Oncology Letters TI - Pregnancy promotes pituitary tumors by increasing the rate of the cell cycle UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6756 VL - 14 ER -