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Expression of the Members of the Ptx Family of Transcription Factors in Human Pituitary Adenomas¹

Laboratoire Interactions Cellulaires Neuroendocriniennes, Unité Mixte de Recherche 6544, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de la Méditerrannée (I.P.-B., C.M., G.G., A.J.Z., P.J., A.E.), and Laboratoire de Neuroendocrinologie Expérimentale, INSERM U-501 (M.G.), Institut Fédératif Jean Roche, Faculté de Médecine Nord, 13916 Marseille; and Laboratoire d’Anatomie Pathologique et de Neuropathologie (D.F.-B.) and Service de Neurochirurgie (F.G.) and Service d’Endocrinologie (P.J.), Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, 13385 Marseille, France

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Isabelle Pellegrini-Bouiller, Laboratoire Interactions Cellulaires Neuroendocriniennes, UMR 6544, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de la Méditerrannée, Institut Fédératif Jean Roche, Faculté de Médecine Nord, boulevard P. Dramard, 13916 Marseille Cedex 20, France. E-mail: pellegrini.i{at}jean-roche.univ-mrs.fr

A number of putative transcription factors described in the pituitary have been implicated as key elements in the processes that direct pituitary development. Three recently described proteins, Ptx1, Ptx2, and Ptx3, define a new family of transcription factors, the Ptx subfamily, within the paired-like class of homeodomain factors. In mice, Ptx1 and Ptx2 gene expression has been detected in the area of the pituitary primordium and is maintained throughout development in Rathke pouch and adult pituitary. In the present study, the expression of the Ptx1, Ptx2, and Ptx3 genes was characterized in the normal human pituitary and in the different types of human pituitary adenomas. Although no Ptx3 gene expression could be detected in these tissues, Ptx1 presented with a quite ubiquitous pattern of distribution, being expressed at quite constant levels in normal tissues and in all 60 pituitary tumors analyzed. The pattern of expression of the Ptx2 gene among the different subsets of pituitary adenomas was even more varied. No Ptx2 expression could be detected in corticotroph tumors. In contrast, high levels of Ptx2 messenger ribonucleic acid were measured in the gonadotroph tumors, although no specific correlation to other markers of the gonadotroph lineage differentiation, such as Gsu, LHß, or FSHß, could be evidenced. Finally, Ptx2 was also expressed in pure lactotroph adenomas and not in somatotroph adenomas. Ptx2 is, therefore, the first paired homeodomain pituitary transcription factor differentially expressed in these two lineages, which derive from a common precursor. These results support a role for Ptx2 in the terminal differentiation of somatotroph and lactotroph cell phenotypes.

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