C and APUD cells and endocrine tumours. Pearse's laboratory in the years 1965-1969: a personal recollection.
This paper is a personal recollection of the studies, conducted in Prof. Pearse's laboratory in London in the years 1965-1969, which led to the discovery of production of calcitonin by parafollicular C cells and medullary carcinomas of the thyroid. The author's intention is to underline the combination of technical excellence, brilliant intuition, dedication and serendipity which led to a series of major discoveries and, historically, established the pivotal role to be played by immunohistochemistry in endocrine research and diagnosis. The formulation of Pearse's APUD cell theory gave a formal credence to the existence of common endocrine mechanisms, molecular markers and structural features in dispersed cells, all belonging to a diffuse endocrine system. This represented a major breakthrough which primed, in the following years, the studies on polypeptide hormone-producing cells and tumours, thus paving the way to the endocrine histology and pathology as we know, and practice them today.
Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Via Santena 7, 10126, Turin, TO, Italy, gianni.bussolati@unito.it.
Gianni
G
Bussolati
D001078:APUD Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000502:physiology*; D006651:Histocytochemistry / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000166:cytology*
D002116:Calcitonin