Melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM/CD146) is expressed on human luteinizing granulosa cells: enhancement of its expression by hCG, interleukin-1 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha.

Melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM) was originally reported to be involved in the invasion and progression of melanoma. It was also shown to be responsible for the attachment of cells to endothelial cells. In this study, we demonstrated by immunohistochemistry that immunoreactive MCAM was not expressed on granulosa cells in the pre-ovulatory follicle, but it was clearly detected in large luteal cells in corpora lutea from the mid-luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Northern blotting analysis confirmed the expression of MCAM mRNA in corpus luteum. MCAM was weakly detected by immunocytochemical staining in human luteinizing granulosa cells isolated from patients undergoing IVF treatment. Its expression was found to be increased during time in culture of these cells. Flow cytometry and Northern blot analysis revealed that MCAM expression on luteinizing granulosa cells was enhanced when the cells were cultured for 5 days in the presence of hCG (1 IU/ml) or cytokines such as interleukin-1alpha (10 ng/ml) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (10 ng/ml). No significant difference of MCAM expression was observed between the cultures under normoxic (20% oxygen) and hypoxic (1% oxygen) conditions. These results indicate that luteinizing granulosa cells express MCAM and that MCAM expression is regulated by LH/hCG and cytokines during luteinization. Since MCAM has been reported to mediate cellular interaction with endothelial cells, this molecule may play a role in neovascularization during corpus luteum formation in the human ovary.