Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (beta-endorphin)
 21,003 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hypothalamic pituitary functions were studied in 25 patients before and 6 months after cranial irradiation with or without radiosensitizing chemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The estimated average total dose was 5,000 cGy to the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. The radiosensitizing chemotherapy used was endoxan, 4900 +/- 873 mg and/or methotrexate 113 +/- 30 mg. All patients had normal pituitary function before radiotherapy. Six months after radiotherapy, there was a significant increase in baseline serum thyrotropin (TSH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels. The TSH response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) was significantly increased, suggesting primary hypothyroidism due to neck irradiation. The peak serum TSH response to TRH became delayed in 21 patients, suggesting a defect in TRH release. In male patients who did not receive radiosensitizing chemotherapy, the FSH response to luteotropic hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) increased while the luteinizing hormone (LH) response decreased. But in male patients who also received radiosensitizing chemotherapy, both the FSH and LH responses to LHRH increased. The adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) response to ovine corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) did not change, while the integrated cortisol response increased. The growth hormone (GH) response to growth hormone-releasing hormone (GRH) did not change. The GH response to insulin tolerance test (ITT) increased and may be explained by the more severe hypoglycemia induced by the same dosage of insulin after radiotherapy or the recovery from the previous wasting caused by radiotherapy. There was no significant increase in serum prolactin. In conclusion, we demonstrated impairment of the hypothalamus-pituitary-endocrine gland axes as early as 6 months after cranial irradiation with or without chemotherapy.
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PMID:Early effects of cranial irradiation on hypothalamic pituitary function. 197 95

RIA method was used in this study to determine immunoreactive beta-endorphin (ir-beta-EP) in gastric mucosa of patients with benign and malignant gastric diseases. The results showed that the content of ir-beta-EP in gastric mucosa in the peptic ulcer group was the highest (68 +/- 9.5 pg/mg wet weight tissue, P less than 0.01), while its content in gastric carcinoma was closely related to the degree of differentiation of the tumor, that is, in poorly differentiated carcinoma it was lower than that in well differentiated carcinoma (P less than 0.02), and was also lower than that in gastritis (P less than 0.05). At the same time, we found that beta-endorphin can markedly augment the 3H-TdR incorporation of lymphocytes (P less than 0.01). This effect was not blocked by naloxone.
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PMID:Changes and significance of immunoreactive beta-endorphin in gastric mucosa of patients with benign and malignant gastric diseases. 214 73

The endocrine action of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) has been claimed to be of a glucocorticoid-like nature. Upon clinical observation, MPA has been shown to improve life quality and overall well-being in patients with advanced breast cancer, renal carcinoma, prostatic carcinoma, and uterine adenocarcinoma. The authors have evaluated MPA endocrine action by the administration of human corticotropin releasing factor (hCRF) in a 90-minute assay in 15 patients with advanced breast cancer or renal cell carcinoma both, before the initiation of oral high-dose MPA treatment (1000 mg MPA) as well as after at least 10 days of therapy. The curves for corticotropin, beta-endorphin, and cortisol responses to hCRF of tumor patients who were tested before the initiation of MPA treatment were parallel to the curves of a healthy control group of probands tested under equal conditions, although at significantly higher respective hormone levels. In patients with malignant disorders assayed after MPA administration, both basal and peak hormone levels were found to be comparable with values obtained in healthy controls. In conclusion, MPA appeared to act at a suprapituitary level since pituitary responsiveness to hCRF was preserved under MPA treatment. Moreover, it appeared that MPA brought the hormonal stress state found in patients with malignant tumors back to normal.
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PMID:Medroxyprogesterone acetate lowers plasma corticotropin and cortisol but does not suppress anterior pituitary responsiveness to human corticotropin releasing factor. 214 10

Normal human cells, cells from nonmalignant proliferative lesions, and primary and metastatic tumor cells can be maintained in vitro and analyzed for requirements for growth in chemically defined media. The human melanocytic cell system with normal melanocytes, precursor nevus cells, and primary and metastatic melanoma cells has been extensively studied for the phenotypic properties of the cells, including their requirements for exogenous growth factors and other mitogens. In high calcium-containing W489 medium, normal melanocytes require four supplements: IGF-I (or insulin); bFGF, TPA, and alpha-MSH. Nevus cells are largely independent of bFGF. Depletion of TPA from medium is not as detrimental to nevus cells as it is to melanocytes, but the phorbol ester is still essential for maintenance of the typical nevic phenotype. Primary melanoma cells require at least one growth factor, IGF-I (or insulin), for continuous proliferation. On the other hand, metastatic cells of melanoma as well as of carcinomas of colon and rectum, bladder, ovary, and cervix are able to proliferate after a short adaptation period in medium depleted of any growth factors and other proteins. Doubling times of metastatic tumor cells in protein-free medium are only 30-60% longer than in FCS-containing medium. The growth autonomy of human tumor cells is apparently due to the endogenous production of growth factors. Likely candidates for autocrine growth stimulation of human tumor cells are TGF-alpha, TGF-beta, and PDGF. Melanoma and colorectal carcinoma cells express functional EGF/TGF-alpha receptors, and produce TGF-alpha, indicating that this growth factor is produced for autocrine stimulation. In addition to the use of anti-growth factor antibodies, other strategies for the inhibition of autocrine growth stimulation include mAbs to growth factor receptors, soluble receptors, receptor-mimicking antiidiotype antibodies, and active immunization against growth factors. Whether any of these therapeutic approaches is clinically feasible will need to be determined in extensive preclinical investigations.
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PMID:Growth-regulatory factors for normal, premalignant, and malignant human cells in vitro. 240 78

Tumour tissue from a lung cancer patient who showed elevated serum amylase and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) was studied ultrastructurally, immunohistochemically and biochemically. Histologically the tumour was a small cell carcinoma. On electron microscopic examination the tumour cells contained large zymogen-like granules within the cytoplasm. Furthermore, cells which possessed many small dense core granules of the endocrine type were also observed. It was of interest that the large zymogen-like granule-containing tumour cells had microvilli at the apical border, connected by desmosomes and forming lumina showing adenocarcinomatous differentiation. Electrophoretic analysis of the serum revealed that the major elevated amylase was of the salivary type with minor components. Immunostaining clearly demonstrated that most of the tumour cells possessed immunoreactive ACTH, whereas salivary amylase was only found in occasional clusters of the tumour cells. The results seem to indicate that the tumour showed both endocrine and exocrine characteristics--an amphicrine carcinoma, expressing amylase and ACTH simultaneously.
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PMID:Ultrastructural, immunohistochemical and biochemical studies on amylase and ACTH producing lung cancer. 241 4

Thirty cases of medullary thyroid carcinoma were investigated by immunoperoxidase staining techniques to evaluate the diagnostic significance of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), somatostatin (SOM), a-subunit of human chorionic gonadotrophin (a-hCG), serotonin (5-HT) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) immunoreactivity as diagnostic markers in comparison to different calcitonin (CT) staining patterns. Twenty three cases exhibited a strong (group I) or moderate (group II) staining intensity for CT and did not need further immunocytochemical proof for classifying them as medullary carcinoma. From seven cases which showed only a weak or borderline CT-immunoreactivity (group III), six stained positively for NSE and four positively for CEA. SOM-positive cells were identified in six cases and a-hCG or 5-HT-positive cells respectively in three cases of group III. Twenty follicular and 20 papillary carcinomas also included in this study did not react with any of the above mentioned antibodies. Therefore, NSE and CEA represent useful additional diagnostic markers particularly for the identification of medullary carcinoma with weak or borderline CT-immunoreactivity. The identification of other peptides may also be helpful in demarcating it from thyroid tumours of follicular cell origin.
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PMID:The value of immunohistochemistry in medullary thyroid carcinoma: a systematic study of 30 cases. 241 31

Surgical hypophysectomy performed in 18 cases with hormone-dependent carcinoma resulted in tumour regression in 38.8% of the cases, and pain relief in 88%. Neuroadenolysis performed 170 times on 130 cases resulted in pain relief in 94% with hormone-dependent carcinoma, and 70% with non-dependent carcinoma. The clinical investigations, following performance of neuroadenolysis, indicate suppressed pituitary function, significant increase of ACTH, thyrotropin-releasing hormone and vasopressin in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), delay of long latencies in somatosensory evoked potential and increased pain threshold of C-fibres. Increase of beta-endorphin in CSF was very brief. Though the exact physiological activity in pain sensation of those peptides other than endorphins still remains obscure, increase of the peptides which are mainly synthesized in the hypothalamopituitary axis, along with suppressed pituitary function, is considered to exert a long-lasting suppressive effect on the mediation and perception of cancer pain through C-fibres and the central nervous system.
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PMID:The pituitary as a target of antalgic treatment of chronic cancer pain: a possible mechanism of pain relief through pituitary neuroadenolysis. 243 39

Neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic neoplasms has in the past been considered extremely uncommon. The histologic neuroendocrine patterns reported previously vary from small cell to carcinoidlike to mixed adenocarcinoma--small cell or carcinoid. The majority of the tumors reported are of the mixed variety. We reviewed 2648 autopsies, revealing 69 prostatic carcinomas, eight with neuroendocrine differentiation (five mixed adenocarcinoma--small-cell carcinoma, two "pure" small cell, and one "pure" carcinoidlike). The mean patient age was 69.5 years. One patient presented with markedly elevated serum corticotropin and another was severely hypercalcemic with elevated serum parathyroid hormone level. Three neoplasms were incidental autopsy findings. The mean survival time, after diagnosis, was 19 months for the other patients. Three of the cases were examined ultrastructurally and showed cytoplasmic processes containing membrane-bound granules in the neuroendocrine component. The areas with neuroendocrine differentiation were positive for markers as follows: neuron-specific enolase, seven of eight; prostate-specific antigen (PSA), none of eight; chromogranin A, seven of eight; synaptophysin, four of eight; and calcitonin, four of eight. Those neoplasms mixed with an adenocarcinoma component showed well-defined PSA positivity in the glandular elements. This study suggests that neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic neoplasms may be more common than previously thought. Often, the areas with neuroendocrine differentiation are considered to represent poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. It is important to recognize neuroendocrine components in prostatic carcinomas owing to prognostic and potential therapeutic implications.
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PMID:Neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic carcinomas. A retrospective autopsy study. 246 64

Opioid peptides have a variety of actions on inter alia pituitary hormone secretion and the immune system. Release of endogenous opioids has been found to stimulate growth of experimental breast cancers and opiate receptor blockers have reduced the growth of chemically induced rat breast tumors. Opioid peptides may therefore play a role in human breast cancer. Invasive ductal carcinomas from 61 premenopausal women were immunocytochemically analyzed for the presence of opioid peptide immunoreactivity. Positive staining was unambiguously identified in 34 of the tumors (56%). In addition, a medullary carcinoma was positive. In a smaller series of tumors, opioid peptide immunoreactive cells were detected in both primary tumors and metastases. Positive tumor cells were usually few and scattered. Therefore, underestimates of their true frequency of occurrence are likely to have occurred, making accurate correlations with clinical behavior and estrogen receptor status difficult. No correlations with estrogen receptors were established for the unambiguously opioid peptide-positive tumors. Many of the positive tumors also stained with antibodies to gamma-endorphin and alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, suggesting the presence of proopiomelanocortin-derived peptides in them. However, peptides derived from other opioid precursors also may be present in breast cancer.
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PMID:Immunoreactive opioid peptides in human breast cancer. 246 45

In addition to prolonged glucocorticoid therapy (not discussed here), at least five other conditions cause Cushing's syndrome. They are excessive corticotropin secretion by the pituitary gland (which results in Cushing's disease), ectopic production of corticotropin by malignant nonpituitary tumors, benign adrenal adenoma, adrenal carcinoma, and primary adrenocortical nodular dysplasia. Each can be distinguished by a specific pathophysiologic process that triggers the adrenal glands to overproduce glucocorticoids. At present, diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome or disease relies heavily on the dexamethasone (Decadron, Hexadrol) suppression test. After diagnosis, other studies, including computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and corticotropin radioimmunoassay, can be used to localize the site of the lesion. Treatment, of course, depends on the underlying cause.
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PMID:Cushing's syndrome. How to pinpoint and treat the underlying cause. 255


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