Iwamura M, di Sant'agnese P A, Wu G, Benning C M, Cockett A T, Gershagen S
Department of Urology, University of Rochester Medical Center, New York.
Urology. 1994 Jun;43(6):838-43. doi: 10.1016/0090-4295(94)90146-5.
It has been suggested that prostatic neuroendocrine (NE) cells play an important role in the growth and differentiation of the prostate by secreting various neuropeptides and serotonin. However, the mechanism by which NE cells themselves are regulated is virtually unknown. In the present study we evaluated the expression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family (HER) in prostatic NE cells.
Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections from twenty radical prostatectomy specimens were immunostained with validated rabbit polyclonal antibodies raised against human EGFR and c-erbB-2, using the streptavidin-peroxidase enzyme conjugate method.
A strong immunoreactivity was observed with both antibodies in the cytosol of a few epithelial cells. These cells frequently had a dendritic appearance and were located in the acini and ducts. The EGFR-positive cells were predominant in most cases. Double immunostaining revealed the colocalization of both antigens with chromogranin A, a polypeptide that is expressed by most NE cells. Moreover, EGFR and c-erbB-2 appeared to be colocalized as well as independently expressed by different subpopulations of NE cells.
The results suggest that prostatic NE cells might be regulated by the HER protein family, probably, in a ligand-specific fashion. This is the first report identifying a potential pathway regulating prostatic NE cells.
有人提出前列腺神经内分泌（NE）细胞通过分泌多种神经肽和5-羟色胺在前列腺的生长和分化中发挥重要作用。然而，NE细胞自身的调节机制实际上尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们评估了人表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）家族（HER）在前列腺NE细胞中的表达。
使用链霉抗生物素蛋白-过氧化物酶酶联法，用针对人EGFR和c-erbB-2制备的经过验证的兔多克隆抗体，对20例根治性前列腺切除术标本的福尔马林固定、石蜡包埋组织切片进行免疫染色。
在少数上皮细胞的胞质溶胶中，两种抗体均观察到强免疫反应性。这些细胞通常呈树突状外观，位于腺泡和导管中。在大多数情况下，EGFR阳性细胞占主导。双重免疫染色显示两种抗原与嗜铬粒蛋白A共定位，嗜铬粒蛋白A是大多数NE细胞表达的一种多肽。此外，EGFR和c-erbB-2似乎共定位，并且由不同亚群的NE细胞独立表达。
结果表明前列腺NE细胞可能受HER蛋白家族调节，可能是以配体特异性方式。这是首次报道鉴定出一条调节前列腺NE细胞的潜在途径。
