Osamura R Y, Watanabe K
Department of Pathology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Japan.
Virchows Arch A Pathol Anat Histopathol. 1988;413(1):61-8. doi: 10.1007/BF00844282.
Ten FSH producing pituitary adenomas were studied immunohistochemically. 9 cases were in males, and 7 showed elevated serum FSH levels. Immunohistochemically, all cases showed the presence of alpha-subunit and FSH-beta subunits in many tumour cells. These two subunits were frequently colocalized in the same cells. However, the expression of LH-beta subunit was extremely low (1 of 10 cases exhibiting occasional LH-beta positive tumour cells), although it has been reported that FSH-beta and LH-beta subunits are colocalized in the same cells of the normal adult pituitary gland. Immunoelectron microscopically, alpha-subunits and FSH-beta were present in the secretory granules and suggested the co-release of subunits or secretion of combined form of FSH. In 7 cases, TSH-beta was positive, and in some cases, TSH-beta was colocalized in the same tumour cells which contained alpha-subunit and FSH-beta subunit. A few cases also demonstrated immunoreactivity for PRL and ACTH. Our immunohistochemical studies suggest that FSH adenomas are multihormonal and that there is abnormal gene expression in FSH cells with loss of LH-beta appearance and co-expression of TSH-beta.
对10例分泌促卵泡激素（FSH）的垂体腺瘤进行了免疫组织化学研究。9例为男性，其中7例血清FSH水平升高。免疫组织化学显示，所有病例的许多肿瘤细胞中均存在α亚基和FSH-β亚基。这两个亚基常共定位于同一细胞中。然而，促黄体生成素（LH）-β亚基的表达极低（10例中有1例偶尔出现LH-β阳性肿瘤细胞），尽管有报道称在正常成人垂体腺的同一细胞中FSH-β和LH-β亚基共定位于同一细胞。免疫电子显微镜检查显示，α亚基和FSH-β存在于分泌颗粒中，提示亚基共同释放或FSH结合形式的分泌。7例促甲状腺激素（TSH）-β呈阳性，在某些情况下，TSH-β与含有α亚基和FSH-β亚基的同一肿瘤细胞共定位于同一细胞。少数病例对催乳素（PRL）和促肾上腺皮质激素（ACTH）也有免疫反应性。我们的免疫组织化学研究表明，FSH腺瘤是多激素性的，FSH细胞存在异常基因表达，表现为LH-β缺失和TSH-β共表达。
