HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

Nestin expression in normal adrenal gland and adrenocortical tumors

P. Toti1, M. Regoli2, G. Nesi3, R. Occhini1, S. Bartolommei1, L. Fonzi2 and E. Bertelli2

1Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Siena, Italy, 2Department of Pharmacology “Giorgio Segre˝, Section of Anatomy, University of Siena, Siena, Italy and 3Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, University of Firenze, Policlinico Careggi, Firenze, Italy

Offprint requests to: Eugenio Bertelli, Dept of Pharmacology “Giorgio Segre”, Section of Morphology, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 4, I-53100 Siena, Italy. e.mail: bertelli5@unisi.it


Summary. Human adrenocortical cells have been shown to express cytokeratins and vimentin. Nestin is an intermediate filament protein that is mainly expressed in the developing nervous system and that has been recently reported in rat adrenal gland as well. Using immunohistochemical and biochemical approaches, the present study demonstrates that nestin is constantly expressed in situ in the cortex of normal human adrenal glands. Nestin expressing cells were prevalently located in the zona reticularis but some positive cells could be spotted in the zona fasciculata as well. Moreover, patches of nestin-positive cells have been constantly detected on sections of cortical adenomas. In contrast, adrenal carcinomas displayed a variable number of nestin-immunoreactive cells that in some cases were virtually absent. Samples of renal clear cell carcinoma metastasis in the adrenals were also examined which did not show nestin-immunoreactivity. We propose that a positive nestin-immunoreaction could be useful in differential diagnosis of clear cell tumors in adrenal glands. Histol Histopathol 20, 1115-1120 (2005)

Key words: Nestin, Adrenal gland, Intermediate filaments, Neoplasms, Adrenal cortex

DOI: 10.14670/HH-20.1115