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)

Endocrine and immunohistochemical studies were performed in a patient with lung cancer associated with gynecomastia. Elevated level of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in plasma and mild hyperadrenocorticism were demonstrated by hormone assays. Postmortem examination proved the existence of anaplastic small cell carcinoma of the lung mixed with a feature of chorioepithelioma. The presence of significant amounts of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), beta-melanocyte stimulating hormone (beta-MSH), calcitonin, gastrin, hCG, hCG-alpha, hCG-beta and human chorionic somatomammotropin (hCS) in tumor tissues was demonstrated by radioimmunoassays, bioassay and immunohistochemical techniques. We present here a unique case of multiple hormones producing tumor elaborating both hormones of amine precursor uptake and decarboxylation (APUD) series (ACTH, beta-MSH, calcitonin and gastrin) and of placental origin (hCG, hCG-alpha, hCG-beta and hCS).
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PMID:Multiple-hormone producing lung carcinoma. 22 25

We measured plasma corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), ACTH, beta-endorphin (beta-EP), and cortisol levels as possible tumor markers in a sequence of 103, randomly selected, patients with lung cancer but without the ectopic Cushing's syndrome and in 72 age- and sex-matched controls. Plasma CRH levels of cancer patients were similar to those of controls both in patients sampled in the morning or in the afternoon. On the other hand, plasma ACTH levels of cancer patients were significantly higher than control patients both in the morning and in the afternoon and showed a preserved circadian rhythm. However, about 35% of cancer patients sampled in the morning and about 60% of those sampled in the afternoon had ACTH levels within the 95% confidence interval (CI) of controls. Also plasma beta-EP levels were more elevated in cancer patients than controls in the morning but about 33% of them and about 80% of those sampled in the afternoon had beta-EP levels within the 95% CI of controls. Despite the higher plasma ACTH levels, cancer patients had cortisol plasma levels similar to controls with preserved circadian rhythm. In conclusion, although mean plasma ACTH and beta-EP were higher in patients affected by lung cancer, their measurements, as well as those of CRH, have practically no diagnostic value. Perhaps measurement of ACTH levels in the bronchial lavage may be more helpful.
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PMID:Limited clinical usefulness of plasma corticotropin-releasing hormone, adrenocorticotropin and beta-endorphin measurements as markers of lung cancer. 133 Dec 23

Using specific ligands, we find that lung cancer cell lines of diverse histologic types express multiple, high-affinity (Kd = 10(-9)-10(-10) M) membrane receptors for mu, delta, and kappa opioid agonists and for nicotine and alpha-bungarotoxin. These receptors are biologically active because cAMP levels decreased in lung cancer cells after opioid and nicotine application. Nicotine at concentrations (approximately 100 nM) found in the blood of smokers had no effect on in vitro lung cancer cell growth, whereas mu, delta, and kappa opioid agonists at low concentrations (1-100 nM) inhibited lung cancer growth in vitro. We also found that lung cancer cells expressed various combinations of immunoreactive opioid peptides (beta-endorphin, enkephalin, or dynorphin), suggesting the participation of opioids in a negative autocrine loop or tumor-suppressing system. Due to the almost universal exposure of patients with lung cancer to nicotine, we tested whether nicotine affected the response of lung cancer cell growth to opioids and found that nicotine at concentrations of 100-200 nM partially or totally reversed opioid-induced growth inhibition in 9/14 lung cancer cell lines. These in vitro results for lung cancer cells suggest that opioids could function as part of a "tumor suppressor" system and that nicotine can function to circumvent this system in the pathogenesis of lung cancer.
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PMID:Opioid and nicotine receptors affect growth regulation of human lung cancer cell lines. 215 43

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

Expression of the RNA coding for the ACTH-beta-lipotrophin precursor, pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), has been demonstrated in five human small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines. Using Northern and slot-blot hybridization analysis of RNA and a bovine POMC cDNA as probe, the processed POMC RNA from SCLC cells was found to be approximately 1350 nucleotides in length, which is larger than that found in the normal human pituitary. Expression of the POMC gene was confirmed by measurement of ACTH precursors secreted by the cells, using a novel two-site immunoradiometric assay based on monoclonal antibodies, which directly quantifies both POMC and pro-ACTH but does not recognize ACTH. Levels of POMC in medium accumulated throughout the growth of the cells, in contrast to POMC RNA which showed a relatively constant level of expression. We conclude that human SCLC cell lines are valuable models for studying the aberrant expression and regulation of the human POMC gene.
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PMID:Pro-opiomelanocortin gene expression and peptide secretion in human small-cell lung cancer cell lines. 247 13

Urinary levels of immunoreactive (IR) human NH2-terminal (hNT) of pro-opiomelanocortin were measured in 43 patients with various cell types of lung cancer (19 squamous cells, 12 oat cells, 2 large cells, and 10 adenocarcinoma), 32 patients with benign lung disease, two patients after hypophysectomy, and in 23 healthy volunteers. Lung cancer patients were divided into two subgroups according to the stage of the disease: 22 patients had "limited", and 21 patients "extensive" disease. Urinary and plasma levels were measured in 9 patients with lung cancer before and after radio- and chemotherapy or surgery. Urine samples were dialyzed and IR hNT material was extracted by Sep Pak C-18 cartridges using a propanol-2/TFA solvent system. The plasma and urinary IR hNT levels of the normal controls were 124 +/- 25 pg/ml and 47.8 +/- 14.5 pg/mg creatinine, respectively. The plasma levels of IR hNT were elevated (greater than mean + 2SD) in 65% of our patients with histologically proven lung cancer (422 +/- 775, mean +/- SD, pg/ml). The highest incidence of an elevated plasma level of IR hNT was found in oat cell carcinoma (83%). Elevated plasma IR hNT occurred in 66% of the patients with benign pulmonary disease (246 +/- 141 pg/ml, N.S.). In cancer patients with "limited" disease we found levels of 226 +/- 143 pg/ml and in patients with "extensive" disease 627 +/- 1074 pg/ml (N.S.). The urinary IR hNT level in lung cancer patients was 186 +/- 337 pg/mg creatinine and 81% of our patients had elevated levels.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Urinary levels of immunoreactive NH2-terminal of pro-opiomelanocortin in patients with malignant pulmonary disease. 253 37

The tumor tissue from a lung cancer patient who showed elevated serum amylase and adrenocorticotropin was investigated ultrastructurally and immunohistochemically. On microscopic examination, the tumor was diagnosed as small-cell carcinoma. Electron microscopy revealed that some of the tumor cells possessed small endocrine-like dense cored granules. The tumor cells also contained large zymogen-like granules within the cytoplasm, which possessed microvilli and formed the lumen, indicating their adenocarcinomatous differentiation. An electrophoretic analysis of the serum amylase showed that the major amylase elevated was of the salivary type. Immunohistochemical staining by the antihuman salivary amylase antibody disclosed that various portions of the tumor actually contained the salivary amylase. The evidence suggests that the small-cell carcinoma cells showed "confused differentiation", thereby expressing amylase and ACTH simultaneously.
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PMID:[Simultaneous production of amylase and adrenocorticotropin by lung cancer--with special reference to electron microscopic and immunohistochemical studies]. 258 Oct

Plasma concentration of amino-terminal segment of pro-opiomelanocortin (N-POMC) was measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in 144 patients with various forms of lung cancer during pneumonectomy, at different times of the day after being newly diagnosed and serially, throughout their treatment (surgery or chemotherapy) in order to assess its value as a biomarker in this disease. Normal volunteers, coal miners smoking but without known lung diseases, and the patients with diverse pulmonary disorders served as comparison groups. A significant transtumoral gradient of N-POMC was found at surgery in 15 of 57 (26%) patients. Subjects without lung afflictions had significantly lower N-POMC levels than patients with pulmonary diseases (benign or malignant) only when the blood was drawn before breakfast. Furthermore, fasting levels in all subgroups of patients were higher at any time of the day than nonfasting ones. Finally, N-POMC levels did not decrease significantly after successful treatment of lung cancer (by surgery or chemotherapy) but were markedly higher after relapse. These results suggest that N-POMC, despite the fact that it cannot be used to discriminate lung cancer patients from controls, is a biomarker which may predict relapse in patients successfully treated by chemotherapy for their pulmonary neoplasm.
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PMID:Value of plasma NH2-terminal fragment of pro-opiomelanocortin in marking human lung cancer in various clinical settings. 259 23

In an epidemiological study, we evaluated the human amino-terminal portion (IR-hNT) of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) as a biomarker for lung cancer by measuring it by radioimmunoassay in the plasma of 180 patients with various histological types of pulmonary carcinoma. Seventy-seven patients with other cancers or benign lung disorders were our controls. An elevated IR-hNT level was measured in 12 percent of the lung neoplasm cases (22% in small-cell carcinoma) and in only 6 percent of the controls. The mean level in the lung cancer group was also higher than in the controls (p = 0.004), while it was higher in patients with small-cell carcinoma than in those with squamous-cell and adenocarcinoma (p = 0.013 and 0.002, respectively). Otherwise, we demonstrated a correlation between IR-hNT levels and altered liver function only in patients with a lung malignancy (p varying between 0.015 and less than 0.001). Finally, survival analysis failed to show that IR-hNT has a prognostic value when measured at the onset of lung cancer. These results allow us to conclude that IR-hNT, although not very sensitive in screening for carcinoma of the lung, may indicate the presence of liver metastases in this disease.
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PMID:The role of the NH2-terminal portion of pro-opiomelanocortin as a biomarker for human lung cancer. 282 12

The most examined tumor markers in lung cancer patients are CEA, hormonal peptides, and some neurogenic enzymes in small cell carcinoma. Calcitonin, ACTH, ADH, CEA, neurophysin, oxytocin, beta-endorphin, neuron-specific enolase, and CK BB are elevated in serum specimens in 25-75% of cases of small cell carcinoma. The level of these markers is related to the stage of the disease in groups of patients; elevated pretreatment levels decrease with tumor regression. Marker levels are not valid in defining the tumor load and the presence of disease in the individual patient. It has not yet been documented that the markers can be used for clinical decisions on antineoplastic therapy. A recent development is the finding that measurement of CSF and plasma concentrations of ADH, calcitonin, CK BB, bombesin, and neuron-specific enolase may contribute in the diagnosis of CNS metastases including meningeal carcinomatosis.
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PMID:Tumor markers in patients with lung cancer. 300 40


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