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Ang–Tie Angiogenic Pathway Is Distinctively Expressed in Benign and Malignant Adrenocortical Tumors

The differential diagnosis between adrenocortical adenomas (ACAs) and adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs) relies on unspecific clinical, imaging and histological features, and, so far, no single molecular biomarker has proved to improve diagnostic accuracy. Similarly, prognostic factors have an insuffi...

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Autores principales: Oliveira, Sofia, Pereira, Sofia S., Costa, Madalena M., Monteiro, Mariana P., Pignatelli, Duarte
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9146687/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35628389
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms23105579
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author Oliveira, Sofia
Pereira, Sofia S.
Costa, Madalena M.
Monteiro, Mariana P.
Pignatelli, Duarte
author_facet Oliveira, Sofia
Pereira, Sofia S.
Costa, Madalena M.
Monteiro, Mariana P.
Pignatelli, Duarte
author_sort Oliveira, Sofia
collection PubMed
description The differential diagnosis between adrenocortical adenomas (ACAs) and adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs) relies on unspecific clinical, imaging and histological features, and, so far, no single molecular biomarker has proved to improve diagnostic accuracy. Similarly, prognostic factors have an insufficient capacity to predict the heterogeneity of ACC clinical outcomes, which consequently lead to inadequate treatment strategies. Angiogenesis is a biological process regulated by multiple signaling pathways, including VEGF and the Ang–Tie pathway. Many studies have stressed the importance of angiogenesis in cancer development and metastasis. In the present study, we evaluated the expression of VEGF and Ang–Tie pathway mediators in adrenocortical tumors (ACTs), with the ultimate goal of assessing whether these molecules could be useful biomarkers to improve diagnostic accuracy and/or prognosis prediction in ACC. The expression of the proteins involved in angiogenesis, namely CD34, VEGF, VEGF-R2, Ang1, Ang2, Tie1 and Tie2, was assessed by immunohistochemistry in ACC (n = 22), ACA with Cushing syndrome (n = 8) and non-functioning ACA (n = 13). ACC presented a significantly higher Ang1 and Ang2 expression when compared to ACA. Tie1 expression was higher in ACC with venous invasion and in patients with shorter overall survival. In conclusion, although none of these biomarkers showed to be useful for ACT diagnosis, the Ang–Tie pathway is active in ACT and may play a role in regulating ACT angiogenesis.
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spelling pubmed-91466872022-05-29 Ang–Tie Angiogenic Pathway Is Distinctively Expressed in Benign and Malignant Adrenocortical Tumors Oliveira, Sofia Pereira, Sofia S. Costa, Madalena M. Monteiro, Mariana P. Pignatelli, Duarte Int J Mol Sci Article The differential diagnosis between adrenocortical adenomas (ACAs) and adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs) relies on unspecific clinical, imaging and histological features, and, so far, no single molecular biomarker has proved to improve diagnostic accuracy. Similarly, prognostic factors have an insufficient capacity to predict the heterogeneity of ACC clinical outcomes, which consequently lead to inadequate treatment strategies. Angiogenesis is a biological process regulated by multiple signaling pathways, including VEGF and the Ang–Tie pathway. Many studies have stressed the importance of angiogenesis in cancer development and metastasis. In the present study, we evaluated the expression of VEGF and Ang–Tie pathway mediators in adrenocortical tumors (ACTs), with the ultimate goal of assessing whether these molecules could be useful biomarkers to improve diagnostic accuracy and/or prognosis prediction in ACC. The expression of the proteins involved in angiogenesis, namely CD34, VEGF, VEGF-R2, Ang1, Ang2, Tie1 and Tie2, was assessed by immunohistochemistry in ACC (n = 22), ACA with Cushing syndrome (n = 8) and non-functioning ACA (n = 13). ACC presented a significantly higher Ang1 and Ang2 expression when compared to ACA. Tie1 expression was higher in ACC with venous invasion and in patients with shorter overall survival. In conclusion, although none of these biomarkers showed to be useful for ACT diagnosis, the Ang–Tie pathway is active in ACT and may play a role in regulating ACT angiogenesis. MDPI 2022-05-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9146687/ /pubmed/35628389 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms23105579 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Oliveira, Sofia
Pereira, Sofia S.
Costa, Madalena M.
Monteiro, Mariana P.
Pignatelli, Duarte
Ang–Tie Angiogenic Pathway Is Distinctively Expressed in Benign and Malignant Adrenocortical Tumors
title Ang–Tie Angiogenic Pathway Is Distinctively Expressed in Benign and Malignant Adrenocortical Tumors
title_full Ang–Tie Angiogenic Pathway Is Distinctively Expressed in Benign and Malignant Adrenocortical Tumors
title_fullStr Ang–Tie Angiogenic Pathway Is Distinctively Expressed in Benign and Malignant Adrenocortical Tumors
title_full_unstemmed Ang–Tie Angiogenic Pathway Is Distinctively Expressed in Benign and Malignant Adrenocortical Tumors
title_short Ang–Tie Angiogenic Pathway Is Distinctively Expressed in Benign and Malignant Adrenocortical Tumors
title_sort ang–tie angiogenic pathway is distinctively expressed in benign and malignant adrenocortical tumors
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9146687/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35628389
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms23105579
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