Expression of p53, Ki-67 and c-erb B2 in growth hormone-and/or prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas

• Autor(a) principal: Botelho,Carlos Henrique A.
• Data de Publicação: 2006
• Outros Autores: Magalhães,Albino Verçosa de, Mello,Paulo Andrade de, Schmitt,Fernando C., Casulari,Luiz Augusto
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2006000100013
• topic: pituitary adenomas; growth hormone; prolactin; p53; Ki-67; c-erb B2; immunohistochemistry

The subcellular events implicated on the formation and behavior of pituitary adenomas are not fully understood. In this study we investigated the presence of p53, Ki-67 and c-erb B2 in 38 pituitary adenomas with immunohistochemical positivity for GH and prolactin (n=26; 68.4%), for prolactin (n=9; 23.7%) and for GH (n=3. 7.8%). The analyses revealed the following results: 24 (63.2%) tumors expressed variable positivity for c-erb B2, 11 (28.9%) expressed p53 positivity and 11 (28.9%) tumors were variably positive for Ki-67. Our results demonstrated a high percentage of GH/prolactin-, prolactin- and GH-secreting tumors with immunohistochemical positivity for c-erb B2. Once this membrane receptor is related to growth factors EGF and TGFalpha and both have a definite effect on tumor growth, our data suggest a possible role for c-erb B2 on the evolution of these tumors.