Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Histology, Angiogenesis Research Center Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania.
Anticancer Res. 2010 Oct;30(10):3981-6.
Endocrine gland-derived vascular endothelial growth factor (EG-VEGF) is an angiogenic molecule restricted to endocrine glands and, particularly, to steroid-secreting cells. The expression of EG-VEGF and its significance in human adenohypophysis in physiological and pathological conditions is still unknown.
In this study, we investigated by immunohistochemistry the expression of EG-VEGF in 2 samples of normal adenohypophysis and 43 bioptic samples of pituitary adenoma. Moreover, the expression of growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and adrenocorticoprophic hormone (ACTH) were also estimated.
The results of this study for the first time demonstrate a down-regulation of EG-VEGF expression in human pituitary adenoma as compared to normal adenohypophysis, suggesting an impaired function of the neoplastic cells in terms of hormone release in the blood stream, as a consequence of impaired tumor angiogenesis in the tumor.
On the basis of our data showing a marked decrease in the expression of EG-VEGF in pituitary adenoma, with the exception of LH-secreting adenomas, we suggest that LH might be involved in the induction of EG-VEGF secretion.
内分泌腺衍生的血管内皮生长因子（EG-VEGF）是一种血管生成分子，仅局限于内分泌腺，特别是类固醇分泌细胞。EG-VEGF 在人类腺垂体中的表达及其在生理和病理条件下的意义尚不清楚。
在这项研究中，我们通过免疫组织化学方法检测了 2 例正常垂体和 43 例垂体腺瘤活检样本中 EG-VEGF 的表达。此外，还评估了生长激素（GH）、催乳素（PRL）、卵泡刺激素（FSH）、黄体生成素（LH）、促甲状腺素（TSH）和促肾上腺皮质激素（ACTH）的表达。
本研究首次证明，与正常垂体相比，人类垂体腺瘤中 EG-VEGF 的表达下调，提示肿瘤血管生成受损导致肿瘤细胞在血液中释放激素的功能受损。
基于我们的数据显示，除 LH 分泌性腺瘤外，垂体腺瘤中 EG-VEGF 的表达明显降低，我们推测 LH 可能参与了 EG-VEGF 分泌的诱导。
