Anterior pituitary development and Pit-1/GHF-1 transcription factor.

Anterior pituitary differentiation is a well-established paradigm in mammalian organogenesis. PIT1/GHF1, a homoeotic gene, plays a key role in terminal pituitary differentiation. Recently, a new set of transcription factors involved in early pituitary differentiation have been identified: Lhx-3, Lhx-4, P-OTX and Prop1. A pituitary-specific transcriptional cascade regulating a developmental programme leads to the determination of the mature cell types.