title: Elevation of serum pro-gastrin-releasing peptide in patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma and small cell lung carcinoma.
abstract: Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) arises from parafollicular or C cells of the thyroid gland and produces a variety of peptides such as calcitonin (CT) and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP). Here we measured serum levels of pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (Pro-GRP), a more stable precursor of GRP, in 15 patients with MTC (4 males, 11 females) who did not show any clinical or radiologic signs of small cell lung cancer. Serum Pro-GRP levels were elevated in 80% (12/15) patients. Significant correlation was observed between serum Pro-GRP and CT (r = 0.52) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (r = 0.56). Serum Pro-GRP levels also correlated with tumor size (r = 0.70). Serum Pro-GRP levels also decreased below the cut-off range in one patient after surgical resection. Our data suggest that Pro-GRP, which is considered to be a specific marker for small cell lung carcinoma, seems to be also helpful and additional marker for the diagnosis and monitoring the response to therapy in patients with MTC in addition to calcitonin as the main tumor marker.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ide
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ashizawa
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sera
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Usa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tominaga
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ejima
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eguchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010455:Peptides / Q000097:blood*; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D010455:Peptides; D011498:Protein Precursors; C047897:gastrin-releasing peptide precursor; D002116:Calcitonin