DOI 10.1095/biolreprod.110.084962 Neurotensin and Neurotensin Receptor 1 Expression in Human Myometrium

Leiomyomas or fibroids are the most frequently diagnosed tumors of the female genital tract, and their growth seems to be steroid-hormone dependent by a yet undetermined cellular and molecular mechanism. Sexual hormones induce the secretion of growth factor peptides and the expression of their receptors, stimulating cell proliferation. One of these factors is neuroten-sin, and increasing evidence suggests that it can promote growth of different cancer cells. Since there are no data on neurotensin expression in normal and tumoral uterine tissue, we have analyzed the expression of NTS and NTSR1 receptor using immunohistochemistry for protein detection, in situ hybridization to detect cells expressing NTS mRNA, and RT-PCR to detect NTSR1 transcript as well as any of the alternative splice variants recently described for this receptor. We found