Costa Patrícia, Catarino Ana Luísa, Silva Fernanda, Sobrinho Luís G, Bugalho Maria João
Centro de Investigação de Patobiologia Molecular, de Lisboa Francisco Gentil E.P.E., Lisboa, Portugal.
Endocr Pathol. 2006 Winter;17(4):377-86. doi: 10.1007/s12022-006-0009-x.
There is increasing evidence involving prolactin (PRL) and its receptor (PRLR) in the development of different cancers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of PRLR and PRL in human thyroid tissues.
Using tissue microarray (TMA) by immunohistochemical staining, we examined the expression level of PRLR and PRL in 314 specimens from 71 thyroid cancer patients and 15 normal thyroid samples.
Expression of the PRLR was observed in 93.3% of normal thyroid samples and in 76.1% of all thyroid cancers, while expression of PRL was observed in only 10% of medullary thyroid carcinomas and not at all in the other specimens, whether normal or neoplastic. Moreover, results suggested an overexpression of PRLR in 70% of medullary thyroid carcinomas, whereas 53.3% of poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas showed a negative pattern of staining (p = 0.014 vs normal).
Present data revealed, for the first time, a widespread expression of PRLR in normal and neoplastic human thyroid tissues as well as a scarce expression of PRL, observed only in a few medullary thyroid carcinomas. Whether the overexpression of PRLR observed in medullary thyroid carcinomas or the underexpression of PRLR observed in poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas play a contributory role in the oncogenesis of these tumors remains to be determined.
越来越多的证据表明催乳素（PRL）及其受体（PRLR）与不同癌症的发生发展有关。本研究的目的是调查PRLR和PRL在人甲状腺组织中的表达情况。
我们采用组织芯片（TMA）免疫组化染色法，检测了71例甲状腺癌患者的314份标本以及15份正常甲状腺样本中PRLR和PRL的表达水平。
在93.3%的正常甲状腺样本和76.1%的所有甲状腺癌中观察到PRLR的表达，而PRL仅在10%的甲状腺髓样癌中表达，在其他样本（无论是正常样本还是肿瘤样本）中均未观察到表达。此外，结果表明70%的甲状腺髓样癌中PRLR过表达，而53.3%的低分化甲状腺癌显示染色阴性模式（与正常相比，p = 0.014）。
目前的数据首次揭示了PRLR在正常和肿瘤性人甲状腺组织中的广泛表达以及PRL的稀缺表达，仅在少数甲状腺髓样癌中观察到。在甲状腺髓样癌中观察到的PRLR过表达或在低分化甲状腺癌中观察到的PRLR低表达是否在这些肿瘤的肿瘤发生中起作用仍有待确定。
