Inada K, Oda K, Utsunomiya H, Itoh J, Osamura R Y
Department of Pathology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan.
Tokai J Exp Clin Med. 1992 Dec;17(5-6):213-22.
Forty-four human growth hormone (GH)-producing adenomas were investigated immunohistochemically for the concomitant localization of GH, prolactin (PRL), and glycoprotein hormone alpha subunit. Immunoreactivity for GH, PRL, and the alpha subunit was found in 44, 37, and 36 cases, respectively. By double immunohistochemical staining, 24 of 27 cases showed colocalization of GH and alpha subunit, with the numbers of tumor cells showing double staining varying from case to case. The colocalization of GH and alpha subunit was noted in some normal pituitary cells. In adenoma cells, the colocalization of GH and PRL, and PRL and alpha subunit, was observed in 9 and 12 cases, respectively. The normal pituitary gland showed only occasional colocalization of GH and PRL, or PRL and alpha subunit. We found that GH-producing adenomas are plurihormonal at the individual tumor cell level, with coexpression of GH-alpha subunit, GH-PRL, and PRL-alpha subunit. The colocalization of GH and alpha subunit may be an expression of a subpopulation of normal anterior pituitary cells (with GH-alpha subunit coexpression), but the more frequent coexpression of GH-PRL may be pathological, accompanying tumorigenesis of the anterior pituitary cells, in which a pituitary-specific transcriptional factor, pit-1, may play a role.
对44例产生人生长激素（GH）的腺瘤进行免疫组织化学研究，以检测GH、催乳素（PRL）和糖蛋白激素α亚基的共定位情况。分别在44例、37例和36例中发现了GH、PRL和α亚基的免疫反应性。通过双重免疫组织化学染色，27例中有24例显示GH和α亚基共定位，不同病例中显示双重染色的肿瘤细胞数量各不相同。在一些正常垂体细胞中也发现了GH和α亚基的共定位。在腺瘤细胞中，分别在9例和12例中观察到GH和PRL以及PRL和α亚基的共定位。正常垂体仅偶尔出现GH和PRL或PRL和α亚基的共定位。我们发现，产生GH的腺瘤在单个肿瘤细胞水平上是多激素性的，存在GH-α亚基、GH-PRL和PRL-α亚基的共表达。GH和α亚基的共定位可能是正常垂体前叶细胞亚群（伴有GH-α亚基共表达）的一种表现，但GH-PRL更频繁的共表达可能是病理性的，与垂体前叶细胞的肿瘤发生有关，其中垂体特异性转录因子pit-1可能起作用。
