Abstract: Objective To evaluate the relationship between mRNA expression of pituitary tumor transforming gene(PTTG), proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA), basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) and the aggressiveness of pituitary adenomas in 65 patients. Methods Tumor specimens from 65 patients with pathologically confirmed pituitary adenoma were selected for this study. The tumor specimens included 40 invasive adenomas and 25 non-invasive adenomas grouped according to MRI scan. The mRNA expression of PTTG, PCNA and bFGF in the pituitary adenoma tissue was assayed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), and a correlation analysis was performed. Results PCNA and PTTG expression was significantly higher in invasive group than in noninvasive group(P<0.05), whereas, there was no significant difference in bFGF expression between those two groups(P>0.05). The correlation analysis revealed that there was a positive correlation between bFGF and PTTG(r=0.26, P=0.038). Conclusion PTTG and PCNA are both correlated with the invasiveness of pituitary adenoma and may be a valuable biological predicting marker for invasion; PTTG expression parallels that of bFGF and they possibly have synergic effect to promote the invasiveness of pituitary adenomas.

Key words: pituitary adenoma, invasiveness, pituitary tumor transforming gene, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, basic fibroblast growth factor