title: Expression of interferon-gamma in human adrenal gland and kidney tumours.
abstract: It is known that interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) is produced by activated T and NK lymphoid cells, mononuclear cells, and macrophage and dendritic cells. Our previous studies have shown that IFN-gamma-like immunoreactivity also appears in human adrenal cortical tumour and phaeochromocytoma. To investigate whether human tumour cells can produce IFN-gamma, we examined 429 biopsy specimens of 30 kinds of tumour and tumour-surrounding tissues in adrenal glands and in kidneys by using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation. IFN-gamma immunoactivity was shown in 34.3% of the adrenal cortical adenomas, 50% of the adrenal cortical carcinomas, 26.7% of the phaeochromocytomas, 26.7% of the clear cell renal cell carcinomas (RCCs), 22% of the adrenal cortexes and 40% of medullas adjacent to tumours. The positive samples and expression areas were well overlapped between the IFN-gamma mRNA and the immunohistochemistry staining. Western blot analysis has further confirmed the immunohistochemistry results by showing a distinct IFN-gamma band corresponding to 17.4 kDa in tissue extracts from adrenal cortical adenoma, phaeochromocytoma and clear cell RCCs. These results indicate that IFN-gamma is produced by some types of tumour cells, suggesting it may play a dual role in the development of these tumours.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Department of Pathology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University Xi'an 710032, China. liqing@fmmu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: X-Q
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: G-S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: L-Y
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: S-F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism*; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D007371:Interferon-gamma