Background: Extensive neurosurgical resection of craniopharyngiomas often requires lifetime hormonal substitution.
Objective: We investigated the effect of the hormone receptor expression of insulinlike growth factor-1, growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor, growth hormone, progesterone, estrogen (ER-1, ER-beta), and leptins (Ra6.4, Ra12.1, Rb) on tumor recurrence, size, and proliferation using clinical, histopathological, and molecular genetic analysis.
Patients and methods: cDNA expression analysis was obtained in a cohort of 20 patients suffering from a craniopharyngioma to systematically determine the expression of above-mentioned receptors. In addition, 51 tumor samples were available to immunohistochemically investigate the extent and distribution of estrogen and progesterone receptors. In 18 tumor specimens, both experimental paradigms could be performed.
Results: All hormone receptors under study, including leptins, were detectable in craniopharyngiomas with reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction but did not reach significance regarding the tested parameters. However, a correlation was observed between tumor size and cell proliferation indexes, as well as with cDNA expression levels of ER-1 and growth hormone receptors.
Conclusion: The present preliminary data point to a correlation between estrogen and growth hormone receptor expression and proliferation indexes with tumor size in craniopharyngiomas. Because of the small cohort of tumors, these data require expansion and validation. This is the first report about leptin expression in this tumor entity. These findings should prompt careful consideration of hormonal replacement therapy regimens in patients with tumor remnants and evidence of respective receptor expression.