Immunodetection of glycoprotein hormone subunits in nonfunctioning and glycoprotein hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas.

While it is established that nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) produce a spectrum of glycoprotein hormones, the ability of glycoprotein hormone-secreting adenomas to synthesize hormones other than those in vivo hypersecreted has been poorly investigated so far. In this study the immunolocalization of the beta-subunits of LH, FSH, CG and TSH and the common alpha-subunit was investigated in 10 NFPA, 3 gonadotropin-secreting adenomas (Gn-omas, 1 LH-oma, 1 FSH-oma and 1 LH/FSH-oma) and 3 TSH-secreting adenomas (TSH-omas) using an immunohistochemical technique with specific antibodies to glycoprotein subunits. The percentage of positive cells was determined observing at least 5 photograph fields containing about 50 cells. Nine of the 10 NFPA were positive for FSH beta with a high percent of positive cells (> or =30%), 6 for LH beta and 5 for TSH beta with a lower number of labelled cells (from 5 to 30%). Of the 8 NFPA tested, 5 showed a marked positivity for CG beta. In Gn-omas, tumors were positive for the gonadotropin that was in vivo hypersecreted (10-60% positive cells) and negative for either TSH beta or CG beta. Similarly, in TSH-omas TSH beta was detected in a variable proportion of cells (10-30%) with no immunoreactivity for either LH beta or FSH beta or CG beta. This study indicates that the coexpression of FSH beta, LH beta, CG beta and TSH beta molecules is characteristic of NFPA since Gn-omas were negative for CG beta and TSH beta and TSH-omas were negative for FSH beta, LH beta and CG beta. Moreover, the biological events that make NFPA 'silent' glycoprotein hormone-secreting adenomas remain unclear since the positivity for gonadotropins and TSH showed by NFPA was similar to that observed in Gn-omas and TSH-omas, respectively.