Association Study Of MET And SMAD2 Genes And The Invasiveness In Non-functioning Pituitary Adenomas

Objectives: To investigate the association of Mesenchymal-epithelial transition(Met)and Smad2 genes with occurrence and invasiveness of non-functioning.Methods: We selected 30 nonfunctional pituitary adenomas patient’s(15 invasive and 15 non-invasive tumors)and 2 normal pituitary glands.Smad2 and Met was detected in normal pituitary tissues and nonfunctional pituitary adenomas,and the differential expression between non-invasive non-functional pituitary adenomas and invasive non-functional pituitary adenomas by qPCR;Met and Smad2 expression level was detected by IHC.Results: The expression of Met was higher than that in nonfunctional pituitary adenomas compared to normal pituitary,meanwhile the expression of Met was significantly higher than that in invasive pituitary adenomas compared to noninvasive pituitary adenomas.The expression of Smad2 gen was not associated with tumor invasion.Immunohistochemical results indicated that Met protein was highly expressed in invasive non-functional pituitary adenomas,and low in non-invasive functional pituitary adenomas,and weakly positive expression in normal pituitary tissue.Conclusions: Met may play an important role in invasive non-functional pituitary adenomas.It may be a specific biomarker for invasive non-functional pituitary adenomas.