Stathmin as a marker for malignancy in pheochromocytomas.
Pheochromocytomas of the adrenal medulla may be life-threatening catecholamine-producing tumors which are malignant in about 10% of cases. Differential diagnosis between malignant and benign tumors is dependent on the development of metastasis or extensive local invasion. A number of genetic aberrations have been described in pheochromocytomas, but no marker associated to malignancy has been reported. We applied an expression microarray containing 7770 cDNA clones and analysed the expression profiles in eleven tumors compared to normal adrenal medulla. Stathmin (STMN1, Op18) was most conspiciously overexpressed among the differentially expressed genes. RT-PCR analysis further confirmed mRNA overexpression, 6 to 8-fold for benign and malignant tumors, and 16-fold for metastases. Stathmin protein overexpression was observed by immunohistochemistry, and distinct differential protein expression between benign and malignant/metastasis specimens was confirmed by Western blot analysis. The results introduce stathmin as a possible diagnostic marker for malignant pheochromocytomas, and further evaluations are warranted.
Björklund
P
P
Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
Cupisti
K
K
Fryknäs
M
M
Isaksson
A
A
Willenberg
H S
HS
Akerström
G
G
Hellman
P
P
Westin
G
G
D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010673:Pheochromocytoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D050777:Stathmin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C493995:STMN1 protein, human; D050777:Stathmin