IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF THE VASOACTIVE-INTESTINAL-PEPTIDE-1 RECEPTOR IN HUMAN UTERINE ADENOCARCINOMA

VIP has recently been known to induce growth of certain tumor cells vi a VIP receptors, whose histological distribution has remained unclear. In the present study, an antibody to the VIP 1 subtype receptor (VIP1 R) was used to detect this receptor in normal and carcinomatous tissue s from human uterine body, at both light and electron microscopic leve ls. In the normal uterus, VIP1R immunoreactivity was limited to some m acrophages in the endometrium. In contrast, in tissues from adenocarci noma of the uterine body, strong VIP1R immunoreactivity was detected o n the apical surface of the columnar epithelial cells of the carcinoma tous uterine glands. The immunoreactivity was also densely distributed on infiltrating macrophages and neutrophils around blood vessels. Fur thermore, the endothelium of small blood vessels and capillaries in an d around the carcinomatous glands revealed strong immunoreactivity for VIP1R. This immunohistochemical study demonstrates that VIP1R is high ly expressed in human uterine carcinoma, suggesting that VIP1Rs may be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.