Fuss Carmina Teresa, Other Katharina, Heinze Britta, Landwehr Laura-Sophie, Wiegering Armin, Kalogirou Charis, Hahner Stefanie, Fassnacht Martin
Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Department of Medicine I, University Hospital, University of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
Department of General, Visceral, Transplant, Vascular and Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
Cancers (Basel). 2021 Nov 14;13(22):5693. doi: 10.3390/cancers13225693.
The chemokine receptor CCR7 is crucial for an intact immune function, but its expression is also associated with clinical outcome in several malignancies. No data exist on the expression of CCR7 in adrenocortical tumors.
CCR7 expression was investigated by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry in 4 normal adrenal glands, 59 adrenocortical adenomas, and 181 adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) samples.
CCR7 is highly expressed in the outer adrenocortical zones and medulla. Aldosterone-producing adenomas showed lower CCR7 protein levels (H-score 1.3 ± 1.0) compared to non-functioning (2.4 ± 0.5) and cortisol-producing adenomas (2.3 ± 0.6), whereas protein expression was variable in ACC (1.8 ± 0.8). In ACC, CCR7 protein expression was significantly higher in lymph node metastases (2.5 ± 0.5) compared to primary tumors (1.8±0.8) or distant metastases (2.0 ± 0.4; < 0.01). mRNA levels of CCR7 were not significantly different between ACCs, normal adrenals, and adrenocortical adenomas. In contrast to other tumor entities, neither CCR7 protein nor mRNA expression significantly impacted patients' survival.
We show that CCR7 is expressed on mRNA and protein level across normal adrenals, benign adrenocortical tumors, as well as ACCs. Given that CCR7 did not influence survival in ACC, it is probably not involved in tumor progression, but it could play a role in adrenocortical homeostasis.
趋化因子受体CCR7对完整的免疫功能至关重要，但其表达也与多种恶性肿瘤的临床结局相关。目前尚无关于CCR7在肾上腺皮质肿瘤中表达情况的数据。
采用qRT-PCR和免疫组化法检测4例正常肾上腺、59例肾上腺皮质腺瘤和181例肾上腺皮质癌（ACC）样本中CCR7的表达。
CCR7在肾上腺皮质外层和髓质中高表达。与无功能腺瘤（H评分为2.4±0.5）和分泌皮质醇腺瘤（2.3±0.6）相比，分泌醛固酮腺瘤的CCR7蛋白水平较低（H评分为1.3±1.0），而ACC中的蛋白表达则存在差异（1.8±0.8）。在ACC中，淋巴结转移灶的CCR7蛋白表达（2.5±0.5）显著高于原发肿瘤（1.8±0.8）或远处转移灶（2.0±0.4；<0.01）。ACC、正常肾上腺和肾上腺皮质腺瘤之间CCR7的mRNA水平无显著差异。与其他肿瘤实体不同，CCR7蛋白和mRNA表达均未对患者生存产生显著影响。
我们发现CCR7在正常肾上腺、良性肾上腺皮质肿瘤以及ACC中均有mRNA和蛋白水平的表达。鉴于CCR7不影响ACC患者的生存，它可能不参与肿瘤进展，但可能在肾上腺皮质内环境稳定中发挥作用。
