title: Circulating forms of immunoreactive parathyroid hormone-related protein for identifying patients with humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy: a comparative study with C-terminal(109-141)- and N-terminal(1-86)-region-specific PTHrP radioassay.
abstract: We evaluated the circulating forms of immunoreactive PTHrP in 115 healthy subjects and 122 patients with malignant diseases by using radioassay systems (RAS) specific for the C-terminal (109-141) fragment of PTHrP (C-RAS) and for the N-terminal(1-86) (N-RAS). PTHrP levels in healthy controls ranged from 1.5 to 38.2 (mean: 24.5) pmol/L with the C-RAS and from 0.9 to 2.5 (mean: 1.7) pmol/L with the N-RAS. The ratio of circulating N-terminal fragment (N) to C-terminal fragment (C) of PTHrP was calculated to be about 1: 14.4 in the healthy subjects. Of the 122 patients with malignant diseases, 40 (32.8%) had circulating PTHrP levels undetectable with the N-RAS, but only 11 (9.0%) patients had levels undetectable with the C-RAS. Of the former 122 patients, 41 (33.6%) had high PTHrP as determined with the C-RAS, and 10 (8.2%) had high PTHrP as determined with the N-RAS. The former of these included only 8 (19.5%) HHM patients, while the latter included 8 (80.0%) HHM patients. The circulating N to C ratio was about 1: 70.7 in the HHM patients. The N and C obtained with the different RASs showed a close correlation (r = 0.86). The values also showed a close correlation with serum Ca; r = 0.75 for C-RAS and r = 0.81 for N-RAS. In addition, the correlations between the PTHrP reading obtained with the different RASs and serum Cr were: r = 0.42 with C-RAS and r = 0.26 with N-RAS. The circulating form of immunoreactive PTHrP fragments is therefore comprised mainly of PTHrP(109-141). In contrast, circulating concentrations of the PTHrP(1-86) fragment are very low, but detection of the PTHrP(1-86) fragment with the N-RAS is a more useful indicator of HHM with fewer false positive results and is less likely to be influenced by renal function than the detection of the PTHrP(109-141) fragment with C-RAS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suehiro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukuchi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006934:Hypercalcemia / Q000097:blood*; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone / Q000097:blood; D044162:Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D011865:Radioisotope Dilution Technique; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; C470121:PTHLH protein, human; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone; D044162:Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein; D011506:Proteins; D002118:Calcium