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Amyloid deposits in pituitaries and pituitary adenomas: Immunohistochemistry andin situ hybridization

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Abstract

The patterns of deposition and immunoreactivity of interstitial amyloid were studied in 11 pituitary glands obtained at autopsy and 9 surgically resected pituitary adenomas using Congo red staining and a panel of antisera directed against 5 major amyloid fibril proteins and all pituitary hormones. The deposition pattern of amyloid in pituitary glands differed from that in adenomas but all amyloid deposits showed an immunostaining with anti-amyloid λ-light chain. The remaining antisera were immunonegative.In situ hybridization using an oligodeoxyribonucleotide-probe complementary to the mRNA coding for the constant region of human λ-light chain yielded no hybridization signals in the pituitaries or pituitary adenomas, excluding local synthesis and secretion of immunoglobulins. Since no case studied suffered from generalized Aλ-amyloidosis and adsorption of immunoglobulins to the unknown amyloid fribril protein of the pituitary seems to be unlikely, crossreaction of the polyclonal antisera with an undefined antigen is probable. The similar immunostaining properties of amyloid deposits in “normal” pituitaries and pituitary adenomas suggest they both originate from the same precursor protein.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Marienkrankenhaus, Alfredstrasse 9, D-22087, Hamburg, Germany

    Christoph Röcken MD, Holger Uhlig MD & Wolfgang Saeger MD

  2. Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany

    Reinhold P. Linke MD

  3. Institute of Cell Biochemistry and Clinical Neurobiology, University of Hamburg, Germany

    Susanne Fehr MD

Authors
  1. Christoph Röcken MD
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  2. Holger Uhlig MD
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  3. Wolfgang Saeger MD
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  4. Reinhold P. Linke MD
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  5. Susanne Fehr MD
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Röcken, C., Uhlig, H., Saeger, W. et al. Amyloid deposits in pituitaries and pituitary adenomas: Immunohistochemistry andin situ hybridization. Endocr Pathol 6, 135–143 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02739876

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