Sex differences in the development of prolactinoma in mice overexpressing β subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCGβ+). Role of pituitary TGFβ1

FARAONI, ERIKA; RATNER, LAURA; DíAZ-TORGA, GRACIELA; ABELEDO, ALEJANDRA; CAMILLETTI, MARIA ANDREA; RULLI, SUSANA; HUHTANIEMI, ILPO

Orlando

Congreso; ENDO 2017; 2017

Endocrine Society

Abstract: TGFβ1 is a potent cytokine expressed in the pituitary. As TGFβ1 inhibits lactotroph proliferation and PRL secretion, reduced TGFβ1 activity found in prolactinomas has been proposed to be involved in tumor development (1; 2). Female mice overexpressing hCGβ+, but not males, develop prolactinomas. In a previous work, we found that hCGβ+ female pituitaries present decreased active TGFβ1 levels, TGFβ1 biological activity and TGFβ1 receptors expression compared to their WT counterpart. In order to further investigate the role of TGFβ1 in tumor development we evaluated sex and genotype differences in pituitary expression of other components of the TGFβ1 system. We found increased mRNA expression of TGFβ1 latent binding proteins (LTBPs) and SMADs in males compared to females (P