GLUT-1 is preferentially expressed in atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial adenocarcinoma

Amanda Ashton-Sager, Ashton-Sager A, Paulino AF, Augusto F. G. Paulino, Alaa M Afify, Afify AM, Alaa Afify
Applied immunohistochemistry & molecular morphology : AIMM · 2006 · vol. 14(2) , pp. 187–192 · doi:10.1097/01.pai.0000162003.43334.c7 · PMID:16785788 · W1995679812
Other OA: closed CC0
Full text JSON View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study found that GLUT-1 is preferentially expressed in atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial adenocarcinoma, suggesting its involvement in the malignant transformation of endometrial tumors.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by qwen3.7-flash, 2026-09-12 · read from full text ⓘ

This study evaluated GLUT-1 expression across various endometrial conditions using immunohistochemistry on tissue samples ranging from benign proliferative and secretory states to adenocarcinoma. The results demonstrated that GLUT-1 was absent in normal endometrium, adenomyosis, and simple hyperplasia, but appeared in 71% of complex hyperplasia with atypia cases and 90% of adenocarcinomas. The authors concluded that this preferential expression helps distinguish benign lesions from those strongly associated with malignancy, likely due to the metabolic needs of hypoxic tumor cells. Relevance to endometriosis: listed as one condition among others examined for GLUT-1 expression, though the paper's main focus is distinguishing benign from malignant endometrial epithelial changes rather than studying endometriosis or adenomyosis pathophysiology.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

The facilitative transport of monosaccharides in human cells is accomplished by a family of transmembrane proteins, GLUT-1 to GLUT-7, that differ in their tissue distribution, affinities for specific monosaccharides, and physiologic regulation. GLUT-1, a high-affinity glucose transporter, is normally expressed in erythrocytes, the perineurium of peripheral nerves, and capillary endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier. Although the aberrant expression of GLUT-1 has been reported in a wide spectrum of epithelial malignancies, its possible correlation with the malignant transformation of endometrial epithelium has not been clearly established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which benign, hyperplastic, atypical, and malignant endometrial epithelia express GLUT-1. The authors examined the IHC expression of GLUT-1 in cases of proliferative endometrium (n=12), secretory endometrium (n=10), endometrial polyps (n=10), adenomyosis (n=18), simple hyperplasia (n=14), complex hyperplasia without atypia (n=17), complex hyperplasia with atypia (n=17), and adenocarcinoma (n=31). Positive staining was defined as distinct, linear membrane staining, particularly at cell-cell borders. Cells that showed only cytoplasmic staining were considered negative. The percentages of positive cells and staining intensity were assessed in a semiquantitative fashion and scored (1+ to 3+). All cases from proliferative endometrium, secretory endometrium, adenomyosis, and simple hyperplasia and 90% (9/10 cases) of the endometrial polyps were negative for GLUT-1. GLUT-1 was expressed in 24% (4/17 cases) of complex hyperplasia without atypia, 71% (12/17 cases) of complex hyperplasia with atypia, and 90% (28/31 cases) of adenocarcinomas. The extent of staining ranged from occasional positive foci to extensive multifocal staining. GLUT-1 positivity increased in intensity as the distance of tumor cells to stroma increased. The authors conclude that GLUT-1 is preferentially expressed in complex hyperplasia with atypia and in adenocarcinoma and that GLUT-1 immunostaining is useful in distinguishing benign hyperplasia from hyperplasia strongly associated with malignancy. GLUT-1-mediated glucose transport may allow hypoxic tumor cells distant from stromal blood vessels to survive through glycolysis. These data suggest that the expression of GLUT-1 transporter may be closely related to the malignant transformation of epithelial endometrial tumors by supporting their increased need for glucose metabolism.
Full text 2,696 characters · extracted from oa-doi-fallback · click to expand
GLUT-1 is Preferentially Expressed in Atypical Endometrial Hyperplasia and Endometrial Adenocarcinoma - Amanda Ashton-Sager - Augusto F. G. Paulino - Alaa M. Afify The facilitative transport of monosaccharides in human cells is accomplished by a family of transmembrane proteins, GLUT-1 to GLUT-7, that differ in their tissue distribution, affinities for specific monosaccharides, and physiologic regulation. GLUT-1, a high-affinity glucose transporter, is normally expressed in erythrocytes, the perineurium of peripheral nerves, and capillary endothelial cells of the blood–brain barrier. Although the aberrant expression of GLUT-1 has been reported in a wide spectrum of epithelial malignancies, its possible correlation with the malignant transformation of endometrial epithelium has not been clearly established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which benign, hyperplastic, atypical, and malignant endometrial epithelia express GLUT-1. The authors examined the IHC expression of GLUT-1 in cases of proliferative endometrium (n=12), secretory endometrium (n=10), endometrial polyps (n=10), adenomyosis (n=18), simple hyperplasia (n=14), complex hyperplasia without atypia (n=17), complex hyperplasia with atypia (n=17), and adenocarcinoma (n=31). Positive staining was defined as distinct, linear membrane staining, particularly at cell–cell borders. Cells that showed only cytoplasmic staining were considered negative. The percentages of positive cells and staining intensity were assessed in a semiquantitative fashion and scored (1+ to 3+). All cases from proliferative endometrium, secretory endometrium, adenomyosis, and simple hyperplasia and 90% (9/10 cases) of the endometrial polyps were negative for GLUT-1. GLUT-1 was expressed in 24% (4/17 cases) of complex hyperplasia without atypia, 71% (12/17 cases) of complex hyperplasia with atypia, and 90% (28/31 cases) of adenocarcinomas. The extent of staining ranged from occasional positive foci to extensive multifocal staining. GLUT-1 positivity increased in intensity as the distance of tumor cells to stroma increased. The authors conclude that GLUT-1 is preferentially expressed in complex hyperplasia with atypia and in adenocarcinoma and that GLUT-1 immunostaining is useful in distinguishing benign hyperplasia from hyperplasia strongly associated with malignancy. GLUT-1-mediated glucose transport may allow hypoxic tumor cells distant from stromal blood vessels to survive through glycolysis. These data suggest that the expression of GLUT-1 transporter may be closely related to the malignant transformation of epithelial endometrial tumors by supporting their increased need for glucose metabolism.

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy (via DOI) is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

⚙ Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-doi-fallback ⓘ

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

Condition tags

adenomyosis

MeSH descriptors

Adenocarcinoma Endometrial Hyperplasia Endometrial Neoplasms Glucose Transporter Type 1 Adenocarcinoma Adenocarcinoma Adenocarcinoma Endometrial Hyperplasia Endometrial Hyperplasia Endometrial Hyperplasia Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Female Female Glucose Transporter Type 1 Glucose Transporter Type 1 Humans Humans Immunohistochemistry

Citation neighborhood (sparse)

Too few in-corpus citations on either side for a chart; here are the lists.

Cites (1)

References (59)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-25T09:32:14.900964+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:03:51.313027+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-25T06:24:14.523685+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK