The expression of and family genes in pituitary adenomas: clinical correlations and postsurgical outcomes.

INTRODUCTION

Pituitary adenomas (PAs) are benign tumors with high prevalence and, occasionally, aggressive course. The tumorigenesis of these lesions is not completely understood at the molecular level. BAK1 and BAX proteins play fundamental roles in apoptosis and seem to interact with VDAC proteins, whose expressions have been markedly altered in cancer, impacting their prognosis.

OBJECTIVE

to evaluate the gene expression of and and their association with clinical and imaging characteristics in PA.

METHODS

Clinical-epidemiological data were collected from 117 tumor samples from patients affected by PA. Invasiveness was assessed by the Knosp scale. Gene expression was examined by real-time PCR. Relative expression analysis was performed by 2^(-DDCt) method.

RESULTS

The sample was mainly composed of women (69/117 - 57.2%). Tumor subtypes observed were Non-Functioning (NF) (73/117 - 62.4%), Acromegaly (24/117 - 20.5%) and Cushing's Disease (CD) (20/117 - 17.1%). Compared to normal tissue, there was a significant reduction in expression in the Acromegaly (p=0.029) and NF (p=0.002) groups. expression was lower in all groups (p <0.001; p=0.007; P =0.005). No difference was found in and expression, compared to normal pituitary. Overexpression of occurred in PAs with post-surgical regrowth (p=0.042). A strongly negative correlation was observed in and expression in CD.

CONCLUSION

The results indicated that downregulations of and may be related to resistance to apoptosis. In contrast, overexpression of in regrowing PAs suggests an antiapoptotic role for this gene. In summary, the genes evaluated might be involved in the biopathology of PAs.