Frequent appearance of autoantibodies against prohormone convertase 1/3 and neuroendocrine protein 7B2 in patients with nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma.
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.
Tatsumi
Ke-ita
KI
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. tatsumi@labo.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
Tanaka
Susumu
S
Takano
Toru
T
Tahara
Shigeyuki
S
Murakami
Yoshio
Y
Takao
Toshihiro
T
Hashimoto
Kozo
K
Kato
Yuzuru
Y
Teramoto
Akira
A
Amino
Nobuyuki
N
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
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