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Original Studies |
Department of Surgery, Endocrine Unit, and Department of Internal Medicine (B.S.), Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Tobias Carling, Ph.D., Department of Surgery, Endocrine Unit, Uppsala University Hospital, S-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden. E-mail: tobias.carling{at}kirurgi.uu.se
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at the MEN-1 locus on chromosome 11q13 has been demonstrated in approximately 2540% of sporadic parathyroid tumors (10, 11, 14, 15). Recent analysis of the MEN1 gene demonstrated mutations in 7 of 33 such tumors (14), which comprised point mutations and deletions/insertions confined to those with LOH at 11q13. As the MEN1 gene may participate in the parathyroid tumorigenesis of nonfamilial primary HPT, any coupling of the genetic changes to clinical characteristics of the disorder becomes an important concern. The present study investigates genetic abnormalities of the MEN1 gene in relation to symptoms and biochemical signs of nonfamilial primary HPT, with emphasis on postmenopausal females exhibiting a biochemically mild and overtly asymptomatic disorder.
| Subjects and Methods |
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Forty-nine patients (43 women and 6 men) with operatively verified, nonfamilial primary HPT were included into the study. Twenty-four postmenopausal females (mean age, 70.3 yr) were recruited by population-based HPT screening among women, 5575 yr old, living in Uppsala County (2). This screening was designed especially to unveil asymptomatic HPT accompanied by normal and intermittently elevated serum calcium values. The patients underwent parathyroid operation to explore its potential influences compared to those of other treatment strategies. Another 25 patients (19 females and 6 men; mean age, 66.7 yr) comprised routine referrals for parathyroid surgery. These patients were selected to include those with greater extents of the hypercalcemia and parathyroid enlargement, such as parathyroid cancer and water-clear cell hyperplasia. The presence or absence of classical symptoms of HPT were determined by routine interview and defined as previously described (16).
HPT was due to single adenoma (n = 37), parathyroid cancer (n = 2), or hyperplasia (n = 10) upon conventional microscopic analysis of the operative specimens (17). Parathyroid hyperplasia of the chief cell (n = 9) or water-clear cell type (n = 1) was defined as a multiglandular parathyroid enlargement. None of the patients demonstrated a history of familial hypercalcemia or clinical and biochemical signs of MEN syndromes (7). Blood was collected after an overnight fast, and serum (s-) calcium, corrected for s-albumin (reference range, 2.202.60 mmol/L), and intact s-PTH (Nichols Institute, San Juan Capistrano, CA; reference range, 1255 ng/L) were determined preoperatively. All patients had postoperatively reversed hypercalcemia during follow-up for at least 9 months.
LOH
Leukocyte DNA was extracted according to standard procedures. The parathyroid tissue intended for DNA preparation was intraoperatively snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -70 C. DNA extraction from cryosections (12 µm) of parathyroid tissue or parathyroid biopsies encompassed digestion with proteinase K and precipitation in saturated ammonium acetate and ethanol. Macroscopically identified rims of normal parathyroid tissue of adenomas were excised before DNA preparation, and the largest gland was chosen for genetic investigations in the cases of parathyroid hyperplasia. All parathyroid lesions were subjected to LOH screening using three microsatellite markers at chromosome 11q13 [PYGM(CA), INT-2, and D11S906] (9, 18). PCR (10 µL) was performed with 2 pmol 32P end-labeled forward primer, 2 pmol reverse primer, 20 ng genomic DNA, 0.2 U Taq polymerase, 1 x PCR buffer, 1.5 mmol/L MgCl2, and 100 µmol/L deoxy-NTPs. The PCR conditions used an initial denaturation at 95 C, followed by 27 cycles at 95 C for 30 s, 5562 C for 30 s, and 72 C for 30 s, with a final extension at 72 C for 7 min. PCR products were mixed with formamide gel loading solution, heat denatured, run on a denaturing 4.5% polyacrylamide sequencing gel, and visualized on a PhosphorImager (Molecular Dynamics, Sunnyvale, CA). Complete loss or more than 50% reduction of 1 of the 2 alleles present in heterozygous individuals was considered to represent LOH (19).
Mutational analysis
Exons 210 of the MEN1 gene were sequenced in the 13 parathyroid tumors with LOH at chromosome 11q13 as well as 4 other parathyroid tumors, including 2 carcinomas and 2 adenomas. The exons were amplified using primers 1F-2R, 3F-4R, 5F-6R, 7F-7R, 8F-9R, 10F-10R, 11F-11R, 12F-12R, 13F-14R, and 15F-15R (13). Briefly, PCR was performed using 200 ng genomic DNA and 25 pmol of each primer, and approximately 60 ng of the PCR product underwent sequencing of both DNA strands using the Applied Biosystems PRISM dye terminator cycle sequencing ready reaction kit (Perkin-Elmer, Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). When an abnormal sequence was detected, the corresponding leukocyte DNA was sequenced, and the tumor DNA was resequenced.
Statistical analysis
Students unpaired two-tailed t test and the
2 test were used for statistical evaluation, with
P < 0.05 considered significant. All results are
expressed as the mean ± SEM, except for tumor weight,
which is presented as the geometrical mean ± SE of
the geometrical mean.
| Results |
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| Discussion |
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Allelic loss at the MEN1 gene locus has previously been demonstrated in approximately 2540% of nonfamilial parathyroid tumors (10, 11, 14, 15, 27). Using three highly polymorphic microsatellites within the 11q13 region, LOH was detected in 13 (27%) of the currently investigated lesions. This material was selected to include a variety of clinical subgroups of HPT. The somewhat low incidence of allelic loss is possibly related to overrepresentation of parathyroid hyperplasia (n = 10) and carcinoma (n = 2), in which LOH at 11q13 seems to be rare. The unusual number of small parathyroid lesions in the present material possibly had a lesser influence in this respect, as LOH at the MEN1 gene locus has been claimed to be unrelated to the tumor size (11).
MEN1 gene mutations were found only in parathyroid tumors demonstrating LOH at 11q13, and the occurrence of mutations in 46% of such lesions is consistent with the findings of a previous study (14). Apart from known MEN1 gene polymorphisms (9, 12, 13), we detected two missense mutations (L152W and H139D) leading to predicted alterations in the amino acid sequence and four frameshift deletion mutations (405del1, 1313del19, 258del4, and 44del16) in the tumor DNA. None of these were present in the corresponding germline DNA. The H139D mutation has previously been detected in an MEN-1 kindred (12), but the others have not been demonstrated in these patients or in those with nonfamilial parathyroid lesions (9, 12, 13, 14, 28). This finding further emphasizes the heterogeneity of MEN1 gene mutations. The effect of the mutations described herein on the MEN1 gene function remains to be clarified, but the presence of large deletions indicates loss of function of the menin protein in these lesions.
Divergent clinical characteristics of HPT were recorded in the patients with LOH at 11q13 and in those with MEN1 gene mutations in their parathyroid lesions. Such genetic abnormalities were found in a substantial proportion of patients recruited by population-based HPT screening. This screening was deliberately set to detect even mild forms of primary HPT (2, 29) and, therefore, provided a unique opportunity to study the MEN1 gene in small parathyroid neoplasias accompanied by normal to slightly elevated s-calcium values, normal s-PTH, and absence of clinically overt symptoms of the disorder. The presence of MEN1 gene mutations in parathyroid adenomas of such a patient group is interesting and suggests that the loss of function of this tumor suppressor gene is not necessarily associated with excessively increased parathyroid cell proliferation.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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Received January 8, 1998.
Revised March 25, 1998.
Accepted April 6, 1998.
| References |
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