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Molecular Biology and Genetics |
Centre for Cell and Molecular Medicine, School of Postgraduate Medicine, Keele University, North Staffordshire Hospital, Stoke-on Trent ST4 7QB, United Kingdom [D. J. S., J. M., J. E. B., R. N. C., W. E. F.]; Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Michigan Medical Centre, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 [A. L. B.]; and University Department of Pathology, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G4 OSF, United Kingdom [A. M. M., W. E. F.]
| ABSTRACT |
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We analyzed 82 nonfunctional tumors and 53 somatotrophinomas subdivided into invasive and noninvasive cohorts. A significantly higher frequency of loss, at one or more of 13 markers, was evident in the invasive nonfunctional tumors (54%, 26 of 48) than in their noninvasive counterparts (29%, 10 of 34). An approximately equal frequency of loss was apparent in invasive (28%, 5 of 18) and noninvasive (31%, 11 of 35) somatotrophinomas at one or more markers. In those tumors harboring deletion, loss at two or more markers was more frequent in invasive nonfunctional tumors 65% (17 of 26) compared with 36% (4 of 11) of their noninvasive counterparts. In somatotrophinomas, 40% (2 of 5) of invasive tumors as compared with 64% (7 of 11) of noninvasive tumors had evidence of two or more deletions. In tumors showing loss at two or more loci, the majority showed large deletions; however, loss of the RB1 intragenic marker D13S153 was infrequent. In most cases, loss at individual markers was more frequent in invasive tumors than their noninvasive counterparts. A marker 3 cM telomeric to RB1 (D13S1319) showed the highest frequency of deletion in both invasive cohorts (29% of somatotrophinomas and 24% of nonfunctional tumors).
Immunohistochemical analysis of pRB showed frequent loss in somatotrophinomas (27%, 9 of 33) in comparison with 4% (2 of 53) of nonfunctional tumors. Although loss of pRB did not correlate with loss of an intragenic marker or tumor grade, it was significantly associated with the somatotrophinoma subtype (P = 0.002). These data suggest that chromosome 13q is a frequent target for allelic deletion in pituitary tumors and point to another or other TSG loci in these regions.
| INTRODUCTION |
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Mice heterozygous for an RB1 mutation do not develop retinoblastomas but have a near complete predisposition to pituitary tumor development (7 , 8) . Although these are of neurointermediate lobe derivation, they nevertheless prompted studies of the RB1 locus in human pituitary tumors. Early studies using intragenic markers to RB1 suggested that this was not a frequent target of loss in pituitary tumorigenesis (9, 10, 11) . However, two recent reports (12 , 13) have described losses on chromosome 13q in invasive pituitary adenomas, carcinomas, and their metastases in comparison to their noninvasive counterparts. Although both reports describe loss of RB1 intragenic markers, Bates et al. (13) found that losses were more frequently associated with a microsatellite marker 2 cM centromeric to RB1 and that a proportion of tumors failed to express pRB. However, both studies demonstrated lack of correlation between LOH3 at an RB1 intragenic marker and loss of pRB, suggesting the presence of another TSG on chromosome 13q. Similar conclusions have been reached in other common cancers including head and neck (14) , breast (15) , ovarian (16 , 17) , and prostate tumors (18) . More recent reports have described other TSGs on 13q including BRCA2 (19) and other putative TSG loci telomeric to RB1 in hematological malignancies, termed DBM (20, 21, 22) and centromeric to RB1 in breast cancer termed BRUSH1 (23) .
To further define the role of chromosome 13q and RB1 in pituitary tumorigenesis, we have carried out an allelotype analysis of 135 sporadic human pituitary tumors (53 somatotrophinomas and 82 nonfunctional) using a panel of 13 microsatellite markers encompassing known and putative TSG loci together with IHC analysis of pRB. On radiological criteria, these tumors were subdivided into noninvasive and invasive tumor cohorts (13) . The study shows that chromosome 13q is a frequent target for deletion, irrespective of tumor subtype (nonfunctional and somatotrophinoma) or clinical behavior; however, loss of an intragenic marker to RB1 was infrequent. Loss of pRB expression as assessed by immunohistochemical analysis was not associated with LOH at an RB1 intragenic marker or tumor grade; however, we show an association with the somatotrophinoma subtype.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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In addition, 15 histologically normal postmortem pituitary and matched spleen samples were obtained, within 12 h of death, and stored at -70°C. Normal pituitary tissues were formalin fixed, paraffin embedded, and confirmed normal by routine microscopy prior to DNA extraction.
Tissue and DNA Preparation.
Prior to DNA extraction from archival specimens, a single 5-µm section was subjected to H&E staining, allowing tumor identification and microdissection from subsequent slides, therefore providing a microscopically homogeneous sample with minimal nonneoplastic cell contamination. DNA was extracted as described previously (13
, 24)
.
LOH Analysis.
Oligonucleotide sequences to 13 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers spanning chromosome 13q in the following linkage order: D13S1250, D13S1246, D13S260, D13S219, D13S1253, D13S263, D13S168, D13S155, D13S1325, D13S153, D13S272, D13S1319, and D13S176 (Fig. 1)
were obtained from the Genome Database. The marker D13S153 lies in intron 2 of the RB1 gene (26)
, and the marker D13S260 maps to the TSG BRCA2 (20)
. The recently described TSG DBM lies 1.6 cM telomeric to RB1 (22)
; we used the microsatellite marker D13S272 (22
, 27
, 28)
to assess LOH status at this locus. LOH status at the recently described BRUSH1 locus was assessed with the microsatellite marker D13S219 as described (23)
. The total tumor cohort (82 nonfunctional and 53 somatotrophinomas), together with matched blood DNA, were PCR amplified for these microsatellite markers as described previously (13
, 24)
. Products were run on 8% nondenaturing polyacrylamide gels, fixed and visualized by silver staining as described previously (13
, 24) .
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pRB Immunohistochemistry.
Archival sections were deparaffinized, rehydrated, and microwaved in a citrate buffer (pH 6.0) for 25 min on full power in a 600-W microwave oven. Sections were then stained using a labeled strepavidin-biotin system, with a primary mouse monoclonal antibody NCL-RB1 (Novacastra Labs, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK) as described previously (13)
. The primary antibody, that recognizes an epitope of pRB located between amino acids 300 and 380, was used at a dilution of 1:25. The secondary antibody was biotinylated anti-rabbit/mouse immunoglobulins, followed by streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase (Large volume LSAB kit; Dako, Ltd, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom), with diaminobenzidine as chromogen. Negative controls were the substitution of pre-immune rabbit serum for the primary antibody and the staining of tissue sections from a proven retinoblastoma. A breast carcinoma was used as a positive control. Tumors were scored positive if all cells were stained or the staining pattern was heterogeneous with a portion of the tumor cells showing nuclear staining. Tumors were scored as pRB negative only if all of the malignant cells showed no pRB nuclear staining in the presence of nuclear staining in surrounding and/or infiltrating normal cells. Tumors were scored without knowledge of subtype or behavior.
| RESULTS |
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3 cM telomeric to RB1, was the most frequently deleted locus in invasive somatotrophinomas (4 of 14; 29%) and invasive nonfunctional tumors (9 of 38; 24%; Fig. 1
Allelic Loss at the RB1 Intragenic Marker D13S153.
The majority of tumors studied showed retention of the RB1 intragenic marker D13S153. The highest frequency of LOH at D13S153 was apparent in invasive somatotrophinomas (2 of 15; 13%), followed by invasive nonfunctional tumors (3 of 46; 6.5%). Loss of D13S153 was detected in only 2 of 32 (6%) noninvasive somatotrophinomas, and no losses were detected in 33 noninvasive, nonfunctional tumors (Fig. 1)
. Of the six pituitary carcinomas available for study, one of five informative tumors (nonfunctional) showed loss of the RB1 intragenic marker.
Frequency of Loss in Invasive and Noninvasive Pituitary Tumors.
Fig. 1
summarizes the frequency of LOH across the 13 microsatellite markers in somatotrophinomas and nonfunctioning tumors. The figures also show multiple regions of allelic deletion distinct from RB1 that are significantly associated with invasive tumors in comparison with their noninvasive counterparts. In the somatotrophinomas, two markers, D13S1319 and D13S176, show a significantly higher frequency of loss in invasive tumors in comparison with their noninvasive counterparts. Similarly, in the nonfunctional tumors, three markers comprising D13S260, D13S155, and D13S1319 show a significantly higher frequency of LOH in invasive tumors compared with their noninvasive counterparts. For the remaining markers, the majority were more frequently lost in invasive tumors in comparison with their noninvasive counterparts; however, this did not reach statistical significance (Fig. 1)
. Microsatellite mapping of 15 histologically normal postmortem pituitaries with the 13 polymorphic microsatellite markers used in this study failed to show allelic deletion on chromosome 13q.
pRB Immunohistochemistry.
Thirty-three of 53 somatotrophinomas and 53 of 82 nonfunctional adenomas were evaluable for immunohistochemical analysis of pRB expression. Of the evaluable tumors, 27% (9 of 33) of somatotrophinomas and 4% (2 of 53) of nonfunctional tumors failed to stain for pRB irrespective of LOH status at any of the microsatellite markers used in this study. Loss of pRB was found at approximately equal frequency in invasive (5 of 11) and noninvasive tumors (6 of 11). Fig. 1
summarizes the pRB expression status in tumors showing chromosome 13q deletions. In the total tumor cohort (nonfunctional and somatotrophinomas), seven tumors showed loss at the intragenic RB1 intragenic marker (Fig. 1)
; of these, four were available for staining. In two cases, loss at RB1 was accompanied by an absence of pRB (Fig. 1)
. Because so few tumors showed loss of the RB1 intragenic marker and loss of pRB, we were unable to draw any statistical conclusion. However, a significant correlation was found between loss of pRB and the somatotrophinoma subtype (P = 0.002). Ten histologically normal postmortem pituitaries were also examined for pRB and showed nuclear staining in all cases.
| DISCUSSION |
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Previous studies by our own group and others (13
, 29, 30, 31)
have shown that multiple allelic deletions (in this case, on two or more chromosomes) are associated with increasingly invasive behavior. For the somatotrophinoma cohort, the reverse was true in that 64% of noninvasive tumors compared with 40% of invasive tumors had evidence of two or more deletions on chromosome 13q. The difference may reflect a subtype-specific phenomenon; however, it does not exclude the possibility of an increase in the frequency of losses involving other chromosomes segregating with invasive somatotrophinomas. In this context, we recently reported an approximately equal frequency of loss (
31%) on chromosome 9p in invasive and noninvasive nonfunctional pituitary tumors (24)
, leading us to suggest that chromosome 9p is an early target in pituitary tumorigenesis. Subsequent studies have shown losses on this chromosome to be an infrequent event in somatotrophinomas (32)
. Taken together, these findings further support the concept of subtype-specific genetic aberrations. Noninvasive tumors, irrespective of subtype, showed highly infrequent loss of an RB1 intragenic marker, confirming our previous findings (13)
. However, earlier studies appeared to discount a role for RB1 deletion in noninvasive tumors (9, 10, 11, 12)
. The low frequency of loss found in this and our previous study (13)
most likely reflects the larger number of tumors investigated. Loss of an RB1 intragenic marker was found at a higher frequency in invasive tumors, regardless of tumor subtype in comparison with their noninvasive counterparts. These findings are in agreement with our earlier studies (13)
; however, they are somewhat at variance with a recent study by Pei et al. (12)
, who reported loss of RB1 in all of 13 highly invasive or malignant pituitary tumors. Although both studies used intragenic markers, the size of the gene (>200 kb) cannot exclude microdeletions as a mechanism accounting for these different findings or perhaps reflect the different tumor subtypes studied. Interestingly, Pei et al. (12)
showed in two of their tumors an intact RB1 allele at initial surgery and loss at a subsequent operation. Thus, loss of RB1 may more accurately reflect tumors destined for recurrence or a predilection toward particularly aggressive behavior.
Because TSGs may be inactivated by a variety of genetic or epigenetic mechanisms, we determined IHC expression of pRB irrespective of chromosome 13q LOH status. Loss of pRB was detected at a significantly higher frequency in somatotrophinomas (27%, P = 0.002) than in nonfunctional tumors (4%). Although two earlier studies (12 , 33) have failed to detect loss of pRB in pituitary tumors, neither study included somatotrophinomas, suggesting to us that this may indeed represent a subtype-specific phenomenon. Indeed, our studies of the TSG p16 have shown that methylation and loss of protein to be significantly associated with nonfunctional tumors but not somatotrophinomas (32) . The loss of pRB and retention of p16 in somatotrophinomas may well represent mutually exclusive phenomena that are also apparent in several other tumor types. The lack of any clear association between allelic loss at RB1 and absent pRB in these and earlier studies further supports the suggestion of another or other TSGs in this region (12 , 13) . In addition to pituitary tumors, a lack of concordance between loss of RB1 and absent pRB in several different tumor types has led to a similar conclusion (14 , 15 , 17 , 18 , 20 , 23) and in some cases identified novel regions of deletion and candidate TSG loci. Although the mechanism responsible for loss of pRB in our tumor cohorts remains to be determined, two other recent studies have described loss of pRB in pituitary tumors. The first report (34) showed that 2 of 28 adenomas had undetectable pRB, and in a subsequent study (35) of an adrenocorticotropic hormone-secreting tumor, the benign adenoma showed strong immunoreactivity for pRB, whereas an adjacent sellar carcinoma and its metastases were pRB negative.
In general, in those tumors showing loss at two or more markers, deletions were large, frequently involving juxtaposed markers. In our own previous study, we also found, that some tumors had evidence of codeletion involving RB1 and a more centromeric marker (D13S155). Pei et al. (12) also reported codeletion of RB1, in this case, with a marker either centromeric or telomeric to this locus in 2 of 13 tumors studied. Although the size of the deletions and the overall pattern of loss do not readily allow us to draw firm conclusions regarding a specific target(s), several regions are worthy of note. In particular, a region 3 cM telomeric to RB1 (D13S1319) was the most frequently lost locus in invasive tumors, regardless of subtype. In contrast, a closely spaced marker, 2 cM telomeric to RB1 (D13S272) and linked to the putative TSG termed DBM (20, 21, 22) was lost at low frequency (in this case, a low frequency was arbitrarily defined as 15% or less). An additional region extending from the marker D13S1250 to D13S253 showed frequent deletion, principally in invasive nonfunctional tumors. This region, centromeric to RB1, harbors the characterized TSG BRCA2 (19) and the recently described putative TSG BRUSH1 (23) . Because the markers used in this study are closely linked to these genes, more detailed investigations may define a role for these genes in pituitary tumorigenesis.
| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Financial support provided by the West Midlands Regional Health Authority and the Association for International Cancer Research. D.J.S. is a recipient of a West Midlands New Blood Fellowship, and their support is gratefully acknowledged. ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Medicine, Keele University, Thornburrow Drive, Hartshill Stoke-on-Trent ST4 7QB, United Kingdom. Phone: (44) 1782 555225; Fax: (44) 1782 747 319; E-mail: w.e.farrell{at}keele.ac.uk ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: LOH, loss of heterozygosity; TSG, tumor suppressor gene; DBM, deleted in B-cell malignancy; IHC, immunohistochemistry. ![]()
Received 10/20/98. Accepted 1/28/99.
| REFERENCES |
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D20/+ mice are predisposed to tumours of the pituitary gland with nearly complete penetrance. Oncogene, 9: 1021-1027, 1994.[Medline]
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