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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Pituitary Endocrinology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1481050
This article is part of the Research Topic Surgery and Management of Pituitary Region Tumours and Their Endocrine Outcomes View all articles

The expression of VDACs and Bcl2 family genes in pituitary adenomas: clinical correlations and postsurgical outcomes

Provisionally accepted
ALEXANDRE N. FACUNDO ALEXANDRE N. FACUNDO 1,2MARCELO MAGALHÃES MARCELO MAGALHÃES 2GILVAN C. NASCIMENTO GILVAN C. NASCIMENTO 2,3,4ROSSANA S. AZULAY ROSSANA S. AZULAY 2,3,4RAMON MOURA RAMON MOURA 5LEANDRO ASSIS LEANDRO ASSIS 2ANA GISELIA NASCIMENTO ANA GISELIA NASCIMENTO 3,6ADRIANA BECKMAN ADRIANA BECKMAN 2VANDILSON RODRIGUES VANDILSON RODRIGUES 2,3WELLYANDRA SANTOS WELLYANDRA SANTOS 2RAFAELA PAVAO RAFAELA PAVAO 2CLARIANO P. OLIVEIRA NETO CLARIANO P. OLIVEIRA NETO 2EMILIO CARNEIRO EMILIO CARNEIRO 7JOANA D'ARC M. DE ABREU JOANA D'ARC M. DE ABREU 2,4RUI M. DA COSTA RUI M. DA COSTA 2,3ROSA CORCOY ROSA CORCOY 8EUGENIA MATO EUGENIA MATO 8Manuel Faria Manuel Faria 3*
  • 1 Postgraduate Program in Adult Health ,Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brazil
  • 2 Research Group in Clinical and Molecular Endocrinology and Metabology (ENDOCLIM), Sao Luis, Brazil
  • 3 Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
  • 4 Service of Endocrinology, University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhao (HUUFMA), São Luis, Maranhao, Brazil
  • 5 Service of Radiology, University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhao (HUUFMA), São Luis, Brazil
  • 6 Service of Pathology, University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhao (HUUFMA), São Luís, Brazil
  • 7 Neurosurgery Unit, University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhao (HUUFMA), São Luis, Brazil
  • 8 Institut de Recerca de l'Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Pituitary adenomas (PAs) are benign tumors with high prevalence and, occasionally, aggressive course. The tumorigenesis of these lesions is not completely understood at the molecular level. BAK1 and BAX proteins play fundamental roles in apoptosis and seem to interact with VDAC proteins, whose expressions have been markedly altered in cancer, impacting their prognosis. Objective: to evaluate the gene expression of VDAC1, VDAC2, BAK1 and BAX and their association with clinical and imaging characteristics in PA. Methods: Clinicalepidemiological data were collected from 117 tumor samples from patients affected by PA.Invasiveness was assessed by the Knosp scale. Gene expression was examined by real-time PCR.Relative expression analysis was performed by 2^(-DDCt) method. Results: The sample was mainly composed of women (69/117 -57.2%). Tumor subtypes observed were Non-Functioning (NF) (73/117 -62.4%), Acromegaly (24/117 -20.5%) and Cushing's Disease (CD) (20/117 -17.1%). Compared to normal tissue, there was a significant reduction in VDAC1 expression in the Acromegaly (p=0.029) and NF (p=0.002) groups. BAX expression was lower in all groups (p <0.001; p=0.007; P =0.005). No difference was found in VDAC2 and BAK1 expression, compared to normal pituitary. Overexpression of VDAC2 occurred in PAs with post-surgical regrowth (p=0.042). A strongly negative correlation was observed in BAX and BAK1 expression in CD.The results indicated that downregulations of VDAC1 and BAX may be related to resistance to apoptosis. In contrast, overexpression of VDAC2 in regrowing PAs suggests an antiapoptotic role for this gene. In summary, the genes evaluated might be involved in the biopathology of PAs.

    Keywords: pituitary adenoma, VDAC, Bax, BAK, Apoptosis, Tumor regrowth

    Received: 15 Aug 2024; Accepted: 13 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 FACUNDO, MAGALHÃES, NASCIMENTO, AZULAY, MOURA, ASSIS, NASCIMENTO, BECKMAN, RODRIGUES, SANTOS, PAVAO, OLIVEIRA NETO, CARNEIRO, DE ABREU, DA COSTA, CORCOY, MATO and Faria. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Manuel Faria, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, 65085-805, Maranhão, Brazil

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