title: Are mineralocorticoid receptors present in human renal adenocarcinoma?
abstract: 1. The presence of high-affinity sites for [3H]-aldosterone was shown in the normal human renal tissue. 2. [3H]Aldosterone and [3H]dexamethasone binding were studied in human renal adenocarcinoma and in uninvolved external cortex, in 22 patients undergoing nephrectomy for renal adenocarcinoma. Tissue incubations were performed with either [3H]aldosterone (5 x 10(-10) mol/l; 5 x 10(-9) mol/l in the presence of unlabelled glucocorticoids) or [3H]dexamethasone (5 x 10(-9) mol/l). 3. Cytosol [3H]aldosterone binding was six- to seven-fold lower (P less than 0.001) in neoplastic than normal tissue. [3H]Dexamethasone binding was about twofold higher in neoplastic than in normal tissue. This difference was not significant. 4. Nuclear uptake experiments showed that, both in cytosol fractions and nuclei, [3H]aldosterone binding was lower in adenocarcinoma than in normal cortex. 5. The very low binding of [3H]aldosterone suggests that mineralocorticoid receptors are absent in renal adenocarcinoma, an hypothesis in line with the proximal origin of these tumours.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D000450:Aldosterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000378:metabolism; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D011987:Receptors, Steroid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011987:Receptors, Steroid; D000450:Aldosterone; D003907:Dexamethasone