Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Follicle stimulating hormone receptors (FSHR) are physiologically expressed in gonads. FSHR are also expressed in gonadal cancers, but nothing is known on FSHR appearance in non-gonadal endocrine tumors. The present paper reports on the immunohistochemical detection of FSHR in pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and neuroendocrine tumors (NET).

Materials and methods: The study included samples of 80 endocrine tumors (28 pituitary adenomas, 7 thyroid tumors including 3 cancers, 34 adrenal tumors including 8.pheochromocytomas and 2 adrenocortical cancers and 11 NET).

FSHR immunostaining was performed using the antibody raised against 1–190 amino acid sequence from the human FSH-R (sc-13935).

Results: In the investigated tumors, positive immunostaining with anti-FSHR antibody occurs in the tumoral cells cytoplasm and/or endothelia of the intra- and peritumoral blood vessels. The cytoplasmic immunostaining was found in 7/8 of pituitary adenomas, 7/8 of pheochromocytomas, 22/22 of adrenal adenomas, 2/2 adrenal cancers, 1/.4 of benign thyroid tumors, 3/3 of thyroid cancers and 11/11 NET. FSHR immunostaining in blood vessels was present 28/28 of pituitary adenomas, 5/8 of pheochromocytomas, 12/22 of adrenal adenomas, 2/2 adrenal cancers, 1/.4 of benign thyroid tumors, 2/3 of thyroid cancers and 6/11 of NET.

Conclusions: FSHR are often detectable in tumoral cells and in the endothelium of intra- and/or peritumoral blood vessels of benign and malignant non -gonadal endocrine tumors. It is hypothesized that FSHR expression in these tumors (like in gonads and gonadal tumors) mediates stimulation of cell growth and angiogenesis. This presumption needs further studies to be proved.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details unavailable.