DNA methylation in pituitary adenomas: scoping review protocol

Objective The general objective of this study is to map the current knowledge in DNA methylation in Pituitary Adenomas, and in particular focus on genetic and epigenetic findings and the translation into a clinical setting. Introduction Pituitary tumorigenesis is currently under major investigation. The current research has turned to epigenomic analysis, investigating whether several epigenetic components like DNA methylation and histone modification can be used as markers for tumorigenesis. Several studies report genes involved in relation to hypo/hypermethylated sites. Others describe differential methylated probes/regions (DMR or DMP) and show subclassification traits. Furthermore, most recent studies aim to cluster samples based on full methylome data (unsupervised cluster analysis), while others chose to assess the most different probes (example 2000 probes) and perform the same data-analysis. Inclusion criteria In this review, we will include all primary studies on pituitary adenomas analyzed by DNA methylation. No review studies will be included. All papers describing DNA methylation in pituitary adenomas in humans will be included. In addition, all languages will be included. However, both title and abstract needs to be written in English. Methods Papers will be identified via systematic search using the bibliographic databases: Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library and Scopus. Two reviewers will screen all papers based on title and abstract. All relevant papers will be included for further assessment by the same two reviewers. Full texts from each selected paper will be read, and if relevant regarding the eligibility criteria, papers will be included in the review. Disputes between these reviewers, the paper/papers will be discussed in the entire research-group. Funding No external funding for this review, funded by in-house resources. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author