Expression of galectin-3 correlates with apoptosis in pituitary adenoma cells.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expressions of Galectin-3 (Gal-3), Bcl-2 and Bax in human pituitary adenomas, and to explore the interrelation among them.


METHODS
RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were applied to detect the mRNA and protein expressions of Gal-3, Bcl-2 and Bax in surgically excised human pituitary adenoma tissues, including invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenomas, and the correlation analysis was performed.


RESULTS
The Gal-3 and Bcl-2 expressions in the invasive pituitary group were significantly higher than those in the non-invasive group, and the expression of Bax had no significant difference between the two groups. Pearsonos correlation analyses showed that the Gal-3 expression was positively correlated with Bcl-2, but was not correlated with Bax, which was inversely correlated with expression of Bcl-2.


CONCLUSIONS
Gal-3 may function through a cell death inhibition pathway involving Bcl-2 to enhance cell proliferation, which result in the invasive growth of pituitary adenoma. These results indicate that Gal-3 has an important role in pituitary tumor cell proliferation and may serves as a possible therapeutic target in treatment of pituitary tumors.
Huang
Chui-Xue
CX
Department of Neurosurgery, Hainan Province People's Hospital, Haikou 570311, China. ledongren@yahoo.com.cn
Hou
Yong-Hong
YH
Liu
Yun-Sheng
YS
D000236:Adenoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
C494826:BAX protein, human; D037502:Galectin 3; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein