Up-regulation of sex-determining region Y-box 9 (SOX9) in growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas

Abstract

Background Pituitary adenomas are benign brain tumors that cause considerable morbidity and neurological symptoms. SOX9 as a regulatory transcriptional mediator affects normal and tumor cell growth with an undefined role in pituitary adenomas pathogenesis. Thus, in the present study, the expression pattern of SOX9 in GH-secreting pituitary tumors and normal pituitary tissues is investigated. Methods The SOX9 gene expression level was evaluated in 60 pituitary tissues including different types of GH-secreting adenomas and normal pituitary tissues through Real-Time PCR. The protein level of SOX9 was assessed using immunohistochemistry. The correlations of SOX9 gene and protein expression level with the patient’s clinical and pathological features were considered. Results The SOX9 over-expression was detected in GH-secreting adenomas tumor tissues compared to normal pituitary tissues which were accompanied by overexpression of SOX9 protein in tumor tissues. The over-expression of SOX9 had a significant impact on GH-secreting adenomas tumor incidence with the odds ratio of 8.4 and the diagnostic value of SOX9 was considerable. The higher level of SOX9 expression was associated with invasive and macro tumors in GH-secreting pituitary adenoma patients. The positive correlation of SOX9 gene and protein level was observed and the tumor size and tumor invasive features were valuable in predicting SOX9 expression level in GH-producing pituitary tumors. Conclusion The study provided the first shreds of evidence regarding the expression pattern of SOX9 in the GH- secreting pituitary adenomas at both gene and protein levels which may emphasize the possible involvement of SOX9 as a mediator in pituitary adenoma tumor formation also open up new intrinsic molecular mechanism regarding pituitary adenoma pathogenesis.

Differential gene expression in two consecutive pregnancies between same sex siblings and implications on maternal constraint

“…The gene is also involved in the sex reversal syndrome 35 . Studies highlight the importance of SOX9 gene in its role of maintaining the cell’s undifferentiated state, in particular cancer cells 36 . However, we couldn’t find any studies investigating its role in fetal growth or its effect on maternal constraint.…”

Machine learning to comprehensively reveal signature genes and regulatory mechanisms in pituitary tumors

“…As a member of the SOX transcription factor family, SOX9 plays a key role in embryonic development and stem cell maintenance [3]. Shirian, et al veri ed that the protein level of SOX9 was up-regulated in 60 pairs of matched pituitary tumor tissues, and found that the high expression level of SOX9 was related to the invasive degree of growth hormone secreting pituitary adenoma patients and the formation of larger tumors [25]. It was reported that SOX9 had staged changes in the transfer and formation of dry niche during the pituitary development process [10], These ndings are of great signi cance for the development of target research on pituitary tumors.…”

Evaluation of the expression of necroptosis pathway mediators and its association with tumor characteristics in functional and non-functional pituitary adenomas

“…The anterior epithelial lobe of pituitary with no pathological evidence was collected and normal cases were matched to the patients as a matter of age and gender. The tumor and normal pituitary sample collection and processing was followed as our previous study [ 24 , 25 ]. The equal number of male and female donors participated in the study with the age range of 44.94 ± 1.17.…”