Expression of RAB7L1 in Patients with Pituitary Adenomas

Pituitary adenomas (PA) are neoplasms that arise predominantly in the adenohypophysis. They are generally divided into three categories depending on their biological behavior: benign adenomas, invasive adenomas, and carcinomas. They represent 10%-25% of all intracranial neoplasms, and their estimated prevalence in the general population is 17%. RAB7L1, located at the PARK16 locus, is a Rab GTPase key regulator in vesicle trafficking. Recent genome-wide association studies have linked variants in RAB7L1 to the risk of Parkinson's disease. However, the association between RAB7L1 and PAs is still unexplored. Thirty patients with pituitary adenomas who had undergone surgical resection at Jiangyin People's Hospital (Jiangsu, China) from 2014 to 2019 were selected. The RAB7L1 expression level was assessed by qPCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemical staining. The level of the RAB7L1 differential expression was closely related to the patients' age and size of the PAs. In contrast, the RAB7L1 expression level was found to be unrelated to gender, Knosp classification, or type of PA. Our study found that the RAB7L1 expression level was higher in adenoma tissues from older PA patients, and the RAB7L1 expression level was higher in adenoma tissues from patients with smaller adenomas (size≤2cm) than those with larger adenomas (size>2cm).