title: Frequent appearance of autoantibodies against prohormone convertase 1/3 and neuroendocrine protein 7B2 in patients with nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma.
abstract: Among pituitary disorders having mass effect of the pituitary gland, nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma and lymphocytic hypophysitis are difficult to differentiate without histological examination. In order to efficiently distinguish lymphocytic hypophysitis and pituitary tumors, we studied the presence of autoantibodies against prohormone-processing enzymes, prohormone convertase (PC) 1/3, PC2, carboxypeptidase E (CPE), and PC2 regulatory protein, 7B2, by radioligand assay using recombinant human 35S-labeled protein in patients with clinically nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma, lymphocytic hypophysitis, and other pituitary diseases. The indexes for anti-PC1/3 antibodies (Ab) were significantly higher in patients with nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma than in patients with lymphocytic hypophysitis. Patients positive for either anti-PC1/3 or anti-7B2 Ab were significantly frequent among patients with nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma than in other pituitary diseases and healthy controls. None of the patients was positive for anti-PC2 Ab or anti-CPE Ab. These results suggest that autoantibodies against PC1/3 and 7B2 are novel tumor-associated autoantibodies and can be helpful in the diagnosis of clinically nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. tatsumi@labo.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ke-ita
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Tatsumi
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.forename: Shigeyuki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tahara
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takao
authors.forename: Kozo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Yuzuru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teramoto
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amino
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D043423:Carboxypeptidase H / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D051859:Neuroendocrine Secretory Protein 7B2; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000276:immunology; D010907:Pituitary Hormones / Q000276:immunology*; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D045664:Proprotein Convertase 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D045706:Proprotein Convertase 2 / Q000276:immunology; D011506:Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D022661:RNA, Untranslated
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C112314:IGSF1 protein, human; D007136:Immunoglobulins; C470507:MIR7-3HG long non-coding RNA, human; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D051859:Neuroendocrine Secretory Protein 7B2; D010907:Pituitary Hormones; D011506:Proteins; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D022661:RNA, Untranslated; C497678:SCG5 protein, human; D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D043423:Carboxypeptidase H; D045664:Proprotein Convertase 1; D045706:Proprotein Convertase 2; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase