title: Significance of plasma thymosin alpha1 measurements in gastric cancer patients.
abstract: Thymosin alpha1 is a cleavage product of prothymosin alpha. Expression of prothymosin alpha increases during cell proliferation. Thymosin alpha1, measurable in plasma, may be an indicator of cell proliferation especially if a cancer is present. In this report we investigated the relation between the clinical behavior of gastric cancer and the plasma thymosin alpha1 level. Plasma thymosin alpha1 was measured in 52 gastric cancer patients using a newly developed radioimmunoassay. Twenty-one tumors and lymph nodes were examined for thymosin alpha1 using immunohistochemistry. The plasma thymosin alpha1 level was higher in gastric cancer patients than in normal volunteers; and it was higher in patients with lymph node involvement than in those with negative nodes. Immunohistochemical study of thymosin alpha1 showed positivity in 52% of gastric cancers and 100% of lymph node metastasis. We concluded that a high level of plasma thymosin alpha1 suggests aggressive behavior of a gastric cancer, such as lymph node involvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery II, Nagoya City University Medical School, Kawasumi 1, Mizuho-cho Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 467, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitani
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuwabara
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawamura
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujii
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D002455:Cell Division; D004396:Coloring Agents; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D000077596:Thymalfasin; D013947:Thymosin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004396:Coloring Agents; D011498:Protein Precursors; C040782:prothymosin alpha; D013947:Thymosin; D000077596:Thymalfasin