Calcitonin's fantastic voyage: from hormone to marker of a genetic disorder.
The story of thyroid calcitonin is an illuminating example of the voyage of hormone from a therapeutic tool for bone disease to a tumour marker to screen for subclinical forms of cancer. Identified as a new thyroid hormone implicated in calcium metabolism, its pharmacological action offered a new therapeutic tool for the management of bone disease. By measuring the circulating calcitonin, a range of values was obtained for oncologists because the evolution of a newly identified form of thyroid cancer--medullary (MTC)--was poorly understood. Researchers' interest shifted from calcitonin physiological action to its use as tumour marker able to diagnose MTC, especially in genetically predisposed families. Then, oncologists and geneticists combined their efforts to identify genetic mutation(s) implicated in MTC, an example of the decoding that is demanded of contemporary laboratory-based medicine to recognise a pathological entity.
Fragu
Philippe
P
Université de Picardie Jules-Verne, Amiens, 58, boulevard Saint Marcel, F-75005 Paris. philippe.fragu@wanadoo.fr
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000266:history*; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000266:history*; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000266:history*; D005060:Europe; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009386:Neoplastic Syndromes, Hereditary / Q000266:history*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002116:Calcitonin