You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Basic Science
Differential Transcriptional and Protein Expression of Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone Receptor in Ovarian Carcinomas
  1. Gyftaki Revekka, MD*,
  2. Liacos Christina, MD, PhD*,
  3. Politi Ekaterini, MD, PhD†,
  4. Liontos Michalis, MD, PhD*,
  5. Saltiki Katerina, MD, PhD‡,
  6. Papageorgiou Theocharis, MD, PhD§,
  7. Thomakos Nikolaos, MD, PhD§,
  8. Haidopoulos Dimitrios, MD, PhD§,
  9. Rodolakis Alexandros, MD, PhD§,
  10. Alevizaki Maria, MD, PhD‡,
  11. Bamias Aristotelis, MD, PhD* and
  12. Dimopoulos Meletios Athanasios, MD, PhD*
  1. *Department of Clinical Therapeutics, Alexandra Hospital,
  2. †Department of Cytopathology, Areteion Hospital,
  3. ‡Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical Therapeutics, Alexandra Hospital, and
  4. §Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Alexandra Hospital, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece.
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Liontos Michalis, MD, PhD, Department of Clinical Therapeutics, Alexandra Hospital, Athens University Medical School, Vas. Sofias 80, 11528, Athens, Greece. E-mail: mliontos{at}gmail.com.

Abstract

Objective Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) regulates normal thyroid function by binding to its receptor (thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor -TSHR) that is expressed at the surface of thyroid cells. Recently, it has been demonstrated that TSHR is abundantly expressed in several tissues apart from the thyroid, among them the normal ovarian surface epithelium. The role of TSHR expression outside the thyroid is not completely understood. The current study examines possible alterations of TSHR expression in ovarian carcinomas and its implication in ovarian carcinogenesis.

Materials and Methods Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry analysis of TSHR expression were performed in 34 ovarian carcinoma specimens and 10 normal ovarian tissues (controls).

Results Significant reduction in TSHR messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was detected in ovarian carcinomas (mean [SD]: 0.518 [0.0934] vs normal, 49.4985 [89.1626]; P < 0.001, Mann-Whitney U test), whereas TSHR protein levels were significantly increased (percentage of positive cells: cancer, 73.55% [20.09%], vs normal, 54.54% [21.14%]; intensity: cancer, 2.52 [0.508], vs normal 1 [0]; P = 0.012, Mann-Whitney U test). No significant differences in TSHR mRNA were found according to history of thyroid disease.

Conclusions Our study describes for the first time alterations in TSHR expression both at mRNA and protein levels in ovarian carcinomas. The discrepancy between the decreased levels of the TSHR mRNA and the increased protein expression has already been described in thyroid carcinomas and might be due to alterations in its degradation by the ubiquitin system or other unknown mechanisms. Further analysis could elucidate the role of these findings in ovarian carcinogenesis.

  • TSHR
  • Ovarian cancer

https://doi.org/10.1097/IGC.0000000000000139

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Footnotes

    • The authors declare no conflicts of interest.