Prolactin Proteoform Pattern Changed in Human Pituitary Adenoma Relative to Control Pituitary Tissues

PRL gene-encoded prolactin is synthesized in the ribosome in the pituitary and then secretes into blood circulation to reach its target organ and exerts its biological roles, for example, involving in production, growth, development, immunoregulation, and metabolism. Multiple post-translational modifications and other unknown factors might be involved in this process to cause different prolactin proteoforms with differential isoelectric point (p I ) and relative mass ( M r ). Pituitary adenomas are the common disease occurring in pituitary organ to affect the endocrine system. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE) was used to separate prolactin proteoforms according to their p I and M r , followed by identification with Western blot and mass spectrometry (MS) analyses. Six prolactin proteoforms were identified in control pituitary tissues, and this prolactin proteoform pattern was significantly changed in different hormone subtypes of nonfunctional pituitary adenomas (NF − , LH + , FSH + , and LH + / FSH + ) and prolactinomas (PRL + ). Further, bioinformatics analysis revealed that different prolactin proteoforms might bind to different short- or long-PRL receptor-mediated signaling pathways. These findings clearly demonstrated that prolactin proteoform pattern existed in human pituitary and changed in different subtypes of pituitary adenomas. It is the scientific data to in-depth study prolactin functions, and to discover the prolactin proteoform biomarkers for PRL-related adenomas. controls, with 2DGE and MS. These findings provide the scientific data to in-depth study the PRL functions and to discover PRL proteoform biomarker for PRL-related adenomas.