title: Pulmonary surfactant protein A in pleural effusions.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Sapporo Medical College, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shijubo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsutahara
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirasawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuroki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akino
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D011510:Proteolipids; D037662:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A; D037661:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Proteins; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants