Human insulinoma: clinical, cellular, and molecular aspects

Insulinoma is the most frequently encountered functioning endocrine pancrea tic tumor in humans. In this overview we summarize morphological and clinic al features of insulinomas, report about the proinsulin-insulin conversion in normal and neoplastic B-cells, discuss the new classification, the crite ria of malignancy, and the clonal composition of endocrine pancreatic tumor s, and outline recent findings on the molecular pathology of these tumors.