The Relationship Between Galectin-3 Expression With Cell Apoptosis And Invasiveness Of Human Pituitary Adenomas

The Relationship between Galectin-3 Expression with Cell Apoptosis and Invasiveness of Human Pituitary AdenomasChapter 1The Relationship between mRNA and Protein Expressions ofGalectin-3 with the Invasiveness of Pituitary Adenomas.Objective To explore the mRNA and protein expressions of Galectin-3(Gal-3) in invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenomas. The aim ofstudy was thus to investigate the possible role of Gal-3 in the invasivepituitary adenomas.Methods The mRNA expression of Gal-3 determined by reversetranscription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), the immunostainingfor protein expression of Gal-3 in total 78 patients divided into invasiveand non-invasive pituitary adenoma groups. The difference of Gal-3mRNA and protein between different groups was compared.Results The Gal-3 mRNA and protein expressions in invasive pituitaryadenoma group were significantly higher than non-invasive group.Conclusion The higher expression lever of Gal-3 mRNA and protein inthe invasive pituitary adenoma group suggest that Gal-3 enhance the cellproliferation of tumor, which lead to invasive growth through one orseveral mechanisms. Chapter 2The Relationship between Bcl-2 and Bax Expression with theInvasiveness of Pituitary AdenomasObjective To examine the mRNA and protein expressions of Bcl-2 andBax in invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenoma groups. The purposewas to explore the relationship between Bcl-2 and Bax expressions withinvasiveness of pituitary adenomas.Methods The mRNA expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax were measured byRT-PCR in 8 pituitary adenoma samples, Immunohistochemical study forprotein expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax in total 78 patients divided intoinvasive and non-invasive pituitary adenoma groups, the difference ofexpressions between two groups and Bcl-2 and Bax protein correlationwere analyzed.Results The Bcl-2 mRNA and protein expressions in invasive groupwere significant higher than in non-invasive group. However, the BaxmRNA and protein expressions did not differ significantly between thetwo groups. The Bcl-2 and Bax protein expressions in pituitary adenomaswere inverse correlation.Conclusion These data implicate that Bcl-2 inhibit cell apoptosis,relatively increased the proliferative activity of pituitary tumor, whichresults in invasive growth. At the same time, it showed that the invasivebehavior of pituitary adenomas result mainly from the increased anti-apoptotic activity of Bcl-2, but not the decreased pro-apoptoticactivity of Bax.Chapter 3The Relationship between Gal-3,Bcl-2 and Bax with Invasiveness ofPituitary Adenomas.Objective To study the expressions of Gal-3,Bcl-2 and Bax, andexplore their interrelation and the association between expression withinvasiveness of pituitary adenomas.Methods The mRNA and protein of Gal-3,Bcl-2 and Bax weredetermined by RT-PCR and Immunohistochemical analysis in thepatients divided into invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenoma groups.The difference of expression in each group and their interrelations wereanalyzed.Results The expression levels of Gal-3 and Bcl-2 were significantlyhigher in invasive group than in non-invasive group pituitary adenomas,and the Bax expressions did not differ significantly between the twogroups. The analyses of their interrelations showed that Gal-3 positivelyrelate with Bcl-2, inversely relate with Bax.Conclusion The expressions of Gal-3 and Bcl-2 are significantly higherin invasive pituitary adenomas implicate that Gal-3 interacts with Bcl-2.We conclude that Gal-3 is a regulator of cell growth and apoptosis and it may function through a cell death inhibition pathway that involves Bcl-2and provide the basis of molecular biology for the genetic therapy ofpituitary adenomas.