Abstract
Objective This study aimed to investigate the expression of interleukin (IL)-6, signal transducer
and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), epithelial-cadherin (E- cadherin) and neural-cadherin
(N-cadherin) proteins in nonfunctional pituitary adenomas, and their correlation with
invasiveness.
Methods Thirty cases of nonfunctional pituitary adenoma pathological wax specimens were selected
from our hospital, including 20 cases of invasive nonfunctional pituitary adenoma
(INFPA) and 10 noninvasive nonfunctional pituitary adenomas (NNFPAs). Envision was
used to detect IL-6, STAT3, E-cadherin , and N-cadherin in specimens. Statistical
methods were used to analyze the correlation between the four proteins and the Knosp
classification of nonfunctional pituitary adenomas.
Result IL-6 and STAT3 were highly expressed in INFPAs but poorly expressed in NNFPAs. E-cadherin
expression in INFPAs was lower than that in NNFPAs. N-cadherin was positive or strongly
positive in both groups. Spearman's correlation analysis showed that the expression
of IL-6 and STAT3 was positively correlated with Knosp's classification, whereas the
expression of E-cadherin was negatively correlated with Knosp classification. Meanwhile,
the expression of N-cadherin was not correlated with Knosp's classification.
Conclusion The expression of the IL-6, STAT3, E-cadherin proteins were associated nonfunctional
pituitary adenomas. However, the expression of N-cadherin was not correlated with
nonfunctional pituitary adenomas.
Keywords
pituitary adenoma - interleukin-6 - STAT3 - E-cadherin
