Pulmonary surfactant protein A in pleural effusions.
Pulmonary surfactant protein A (SP-A) is known to be a major phospholipid-associated glycoprotein in pulmonary surfactant, which is specific to the lung. Immunohistochemically, expression of SP-A in tumor tissues is found in approximately 50% of patients with lung adenocarcinoma but not in the other histologic types of lung cancer of metastatic lung tumors. In this study, the SP-A content of pleural effusions was determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These results showed that approximately 40% of patients with lung adenocarcinomas (27 of 67) had high levels of SP-A (greater than 500 ng/ml) in their pleural effusions. By contrast, patients with other histologic types of lung cancers, adenocarcinomas of different primary sites, and tuberculosis had low levels of SP-A in their pleural effusions. The determination of SP-A in malignant effusions will contribute to distinguishing primary lung adenocarcinoma from adenocarcinomas of miscellaneous origin.
Shijubo
N
N
Department of Medicine, Sapporo Medical College, Japan.
Tsutahara
S
S
Hirasawa
M
M
Takahashi
H
H
Honda
Y
Y
Suzuki
A
A
Kuroki
Y
Y
Akino
T
T
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000378:metabolism; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000378:metabolism*; D011510:Proteolipids / Q000032:analysis*; D037662:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A; D037661:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Proteins; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000032:analysis*
D011510:Proteolipids; D037662:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A; D037661:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Proteins; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants