Phaeochromocytomas overexpress insulin transcript and produce insulin.

Autor: Følling I; Department of Endocrinology, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway.; Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.; Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway., Wennerstrøm AB; Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway., Eide TJ; Division of Laboratory Medicine, Department of Pathology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway., Nilsen HL; Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.; Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Endocrine connections [Endocr Connect] 2021 Jul 26; Vol. 10 (8), pp. 815-824. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jul 26.
DOI: 10.1530/EC-21-0269
Abstrakt: Introduction: Phaeochromocytomas are tumours originating in the medulla of the adrenal gland. They produce catecholamines, and some tumours also produce ectopic hormones. Two types of glucose imbalances occur in phaeochromocytoma patients, hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemic attacks. Therefore, we tested whether insulin transcript (INS), insulin, and a hybrid read-through transcript between exons from insulin and insulin-like growth factor 2 (INS-IGF2) were expressed in phaeochromocytomas.
Methods: We measured the expression of insulin using immunohistochemistry. The expression of INS-IGF2 was determined by qRT-PCR in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue from 20 phaeochromocytomas. The expression of INS and INS-IGF2 transcriptswas also analysed in 182 phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas using publicly available datasets in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Database.
Results: Of 20 phaeochromocytomas, 16 stained positive for insulin. The distribution of positive cells was mostly scattered, with some focal expression indicating clonal expansion. Nineteen tumours expressed high levels of INS and INS-IGF2 transcripts. The expression of the two transcripts corresponded closely. In the TCGA dataset, phaeochromocytoma expresses higher levels of INS and INS-IGF2 transcripts compared to the normal non-tumour adrenal glands. Thus, the expression of INS and INS-IGF2 seems to be a general phenomenon in phaeochromocytoma.
Conclusion: Most phaeochromocytomas contain cells that overexpress INS and INS-IGF2 transcripts. Most tumours also display heterogeneous expression of polypeptides immunoreactive to monoclonal anti-insulin antibodies. Clinically this may relate to both hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemic attacks seen in patients with phaeochromocytoma as well as autocrine tumour growth.
Databáze: MEDLINE