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

A rare case of pancreatic exocrine carcinoma with an endocrine component secreting adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) is reported and discussed in relation to other cases previously published. The patient initially presented with a severe form of diabetes, which was treated accordingly. Persistence of hyperglycemia, along with other metabolic alterations and marked hypokalemia, led to the suggestion of abnormal ACTH secretion. In this patient, however, a florid Cushing's syndrome was not observed. The patient also developed hematological alterations, mainly leukopenia and thrombocytopenia, whose origins were unclear. At autopsy, a poorly-defined mass was discovered between the body and tail of the pancreas. Standard histology showed a moderately-differentiated adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemical analysis of the tumor specimen demonstrated the presence of some neoplastic cells immunoreactive for chromogranin A, neuron-specific enolase and ACTH. These findings are consistent with the existence of an endocrine component within the exocrine carcinoma with ACTH differentiation.
 ...
PMID:Pancreatic exocrine carcinoma producing adrenocorticotropic hormone. 131 74

An ovarian strumal carcinoid which synthesized peptide hormones, but did not induce the carcinoid syndrome, was analysed histochemically, immunohistochemically and ultrastructurally. Dot-immunobinding assays were performed in order to determine the endocrine gene expression. The amylase resistant colloid was found to be PAS-positive in the follicular portions of the tumour. Carcinoid cells showed Grimelius positive argyophilic granules in the subnuclear position. The Fontana-Masson argentaffin reaction was negative. Immunohistochemistry for adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) revealed strong reactivity in the follicular areas of the carcinoid. The immunoreactivity for somatotropic release inhibiting factor (SRIF) was found positive in the trabecular portion of the carcinoid tumour, thyroglobulin in the follicles. Neuron-specific enolase, protein S-100 A/B, synaptophysin and chromogranin A evoked weak cytoplasmic immunostaining of the tumor cells. Dot-immunobinding assays substantiated these immunohistochemical results, except for the thermolabile protein S-100 A/B. Electron microscopy of tumor cells showed numerous electron-dense cytoplasmic granules, 250 to 350 nm in diameter, both in follicular and trabecular areas of the tumor. Plasma levels of tumor-associated ACTH, SRIF and thyroglobulin were measured by radioimmunoassay and were found to be within the normal range.
 ...
PMID:Immunochemical and ultrastructural studies of an ovarian strumal carcinoid. 198 59

Patients with medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC) were analyzed according to age, sex, and tumor stage. In addition, the MTC were screened for the predominant histologic pattern, immunocytochemical spectrum (60 tumors), and DNA content (DNA cytophotometry and DNA flow cytometry, 25 tumors). These findings were correlated with follow-up data available for 45 of these patients. Forty-eight percent of the tumors revealed a polygonal cell pattern, whereas 22% showed spindle-cell predominance. All tumors contained cytokeratin, chromogranin A, and calcitonin (CT). Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) was present in 92%, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in 77%, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in 75%, and vimentin in 53% of cases. Positivity for neurotensin, somatostatin, neurofilaments, bombesin, and alpha human chorionic gonadotropin (a-hCG) and serotonin ranged between 3% and 27%. All MTC were negative for substance P, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), thyroglobulin (TG), or S-100 protein. Local recurrences and regional lymph node metastases revealed identical staining patterns as the primaries. Prognosis of MTC was found not to be related to histologic features (dominant architectural pattern, cellular shape, presence of amyloid deposits) or immunocytochemical pattern. Instead, survival was significantly correlated to age, sex, and stage of disease. The best prognosis was seen in women younger than 40 years and revealing an early stage of disease. DNA measurements added valuable information in assessing the prognosis of MTC.
 ...
PMID:Prognostic factors in medullary thyroid carcinomas. Survival in relation to age, sex, stage, histology, immunocytochemistry, and DNA content. 244 25

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.
 ...
PMID:Neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic carcinomas. A retrospective autopsy study. 246 64

The localisation of chromogranins A and B, met-enkephalin-arg6-gly7-leu8 (met-enk 8) and protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5) in the adrenal medulla and extra-adrenal chromaffin tissue has been studied in the developing rat by immunogold-silver staining. In the adult rat adrenal the cytoplasm of all medullary chromaffin cells showed a positive response with chromogranin A and B; in each case occasional groups of cells with a low reactivity that may have been NA cells were seen. Chromogranin A was first detected in adrenal medullary and extra-adrenal chromaffin cells at 18 days of gestation whilst chromogranin B was not detected in animals younger than 7 days. In 15 days old animals the adrenal medullary response to A and B was of the same intensity as that seen in the adult. Less than 1% of adult medullary chromaffin cells were responsive to met-enk 8 staining and medullary cells were unreactive in the fetus, with only extra-adrenal chromaffin tissue responding prenatally. During the first postnatal week immunoreactive cells appeared in the adrenal medulla in considerably greater proportions than in the adult gland. In contrast, positively stained nerve terminals associated with chromaffin cells and abundant in the adult adrenal were not detected during the first week of life. Immunoreactive nerve terminals were first seen early in the second week of life at a time when positive chromaffin cells were becoming less common. PGP 9.5 was located in all chromaffin cells of the adult adrenal and was readily detected in chromaffin cells in the adrenal and in extra-adrenal locations of the earliest stage examined (E16). Our findings suggest that the ontogenesis of the chromogranin-like immunostaining reflects the maturation of chromaffin granules and the PGP 9.5 immunostaining detected a protein common to cells of neuronal origin and expressed at an early stage of differentiation. The reciprocal relationship between the presence of enkephalins in chromaffin cells and in their presynaptic terminals merits further investigation.
 ...
PMID:Localisation of chromogranin A and B, met-enkephalin-arg6-gly7-leu8 and PGP9.5-like immunoreactivity in the developing and adult rat adrenal medulla and extra-adrenal chromaffin tissue. 253 91

The localization of chromogranin A and B, beta-endorphin, met-enkephalin and leu-enkephalin was immunocytochemically investigated in the submandibular salivary gland (SMG) and pancreas of male mice using different antibodies. Procedures were carried out with different immunocytochemical methods, such as peroxidase-antiperoxidase and indirect immunofluorescence methods, visualized with diamino-benzidine, 4-chloro-1-naphthol and FITC stainings. Chromogranin A immunoreactivity was located in the granular convoluted tubule cells (GCT), whereas chromogranin B immunoreactivity was located in some of the solitary cells scattered around the acini, but not in GCT of SMG. In the pancreas, different localizations were observed between chromogranin A and B. Beta-endorphin and met-enkephalin immunoreactivities were also located in GCT, but in the striated duct cells as well. However, met-enkephalin, but not beta-endorphin, immunoreactivity was found in the nerves around the duct system. Our results strongly suggest that chromogranin A, but not chromogranin B, may be useful as a means to differentiate the cells in the duct system of the SMG responsible for production of biologically-active factors.
 ...
PMID:Localization of chromogranin A and B, beta-endorphin and enkephalins in the submandibular glands of mice. 253 63

Current investigations on the immunohistochemical occurrence and co-occurrence of biogenic polypeptides in the mammalian carotid body were reviewed and extended by our own recent findings. The family of chromogranins and related peptides in glomus cells appears to have a widespread interspecies distribution, whereas other peptides investigated occur in a species-specific pattern. Immunoreactivity to antisera against opioids, which derive from the proenkephalin sequence, appears to be present in glomus cells of the rabbit, cat, dog, and a shrew. Conversely, glomus cells of pig and guinea pig predominantly are immunoreactive to cleavage products of prodynorphin, which co-occur in some cells with substance P and met-enkephalin-arg-phe, respectively. In the rat and Callithrix jacchus, opioid immunoreactivity is present in nerve fibres but not in glomus cells. Immunoreactivity to other peptides, such as neurotensin, cholecystokinin, neuropeptide Y, and galanin, is found only in one or two particular species. Neurotensin immunolabelling occurs in beagle dog glomus cells, which are known to lack substance P. Cholecystokinin immunoreactivity is present in glomus cells of dog and Callithrix, and co-exists with chromogranin A, neuropeptide Y, and substance P. Substance P appears to exist in both carotid body glomus cells and nerve fibres. Substance P immunoreactivity is present in glomus cells of all species investigated, except dog. Coexistence of substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is demonstrated in nerve fibres of the guinea pig carotid body, which originate in the petrosal and jugular ganglia. Other peptides visualized immunohistochemically in mammalian carotid body nerve fibres are vasoactive intestinal peptide and neuropeptide Y. The functional significance of the various peptides present in the carotid body is discussed.
 ...
PMID:Immunohistochemical distribution and colocalization of regulatory peptides in the carotid body. 267 3

The influence of the adrenal gland on the expression of chromogranin A in the anterior pituitary was studied in the rat. Adrenalectomy caused a progressive and pronounced (20% of control levels at day 10 after adrenalectomy) decrease of Chromogranin A mRNA levels in anterior pituitary. Daily injection of dexamethasone (15 micrograms/animal, s.c.) fully reversed the postadrenalectomy decrement in chromogranin A mRNA levels. Chromogranin A protein content, however, was unchanged 10 days after adrenalectomy. In contrast, pro-opiomelanocortin mRNA levels were significantly elevated after adrenalectomy and restored to normal by dexamethasone, with a time course similar to the changes in chromogranin A mRNA levels. These data demonstrate that the adrenal gland permissively regulates chromogranin A expression in the anterior pituitary, at a pretranslational locus, and that this regulation is probably mediated by glucocorticoids.
 ...
PMID:Chromogranin A messenger RNA expression in the rat anterior pituitary is permissively regulated by the adrenal gland. 271 45

Secretory protein-I (SP-I) of parathyroid glands and chromogranin A ( CGA ) of adrenal medullary chromaffin cells are chemically similar if not identical proteins. Both proteins are contained within secretory granules and appear to be cosecreted with granule contents, for example, in the parathyroid with PTH and in the adrenal with epinephrine and dopamine beta-hydroxylase. Antisera to bovine SP-I and porcine CGA , together with antisera to a variety of peptide hormones, were used in an immunofluorescence study of rat tissues in order to determine the probable distribution and cellular localization of these proteins. In addition to their previously demonstrated presence in parathyroid and adrenal cells, the SP-I/ CGA protein family was detected in cells of the thyroid that contained calcitonin and often SRIF but not thyroglobulin; in cells of the anterior pituitary staining for the alpha-subunit of TSH/FSH/LH but not in cells staining for GH, PRL, ACTH, or beta-endorphin; in pancreatic islet cells staining for SRIF and pancreatic polypeptide-related peptides, but not for insulin or glucagon; in the celiac and mesenteric ganglia in cells some of which contained SRIF; and in the gastric antrum in cells containing SRIF, but not gastrin. SP-I/ CGA was not detected in cells of the liver, kidney, parotid gland, or acinar pancreas or in the intermediate or posterior lobes of the pituitary. These results suggest that this protein family enjoys a widespread but highly restricted distribution in many different endocrine-peptide cells of the rat, many that are believed to be of the APUD cell series. The possibility is raised that SP-I/ CGA plays some physiological role in the secretory process or exerts an effect of its own in the periphery after secretion.
 ...
PMID:Selective localization of the parathyroid secretory protein-I/adrenal medulla chromogranin A protein family in a wide variety of endocrine cells of the rat. 623 31

Primary small cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis is rare. We report a case of combined small cell and transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis. The patient was a 78-year-old man with macrohematuria. He was diagnosed with right pelvic tumor by right retrograde pyelography and computerized tomography. A right radical nephroureterectomy was performed. Histological sections of the tumor showed a mixture of small cell and grade 2 transitional cell carcinoma. Positivity for Grimelius was noted in the small cell component. Masson-Fontana, chromogranin A, serotonin, keratin, leucocyte common antigen (LCA), neuron specific enolase (NSE), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), growth hormone (GH) and somatostatin were negative. Ultrastructurally, the tumor cells were tightly packed and attached together by scattered desmosomes. There were no neurosecretory granules. Seven months after operation, the patient died with peritonitis carcinomatosa. At autopsy, a metastatic tumor was found in the liver and retroperitoneal lymph node. Other organs were not involved. Especially, there were no abnormalities in the lungs.
 ...
PMID:[Combined small cell and transitional cell carcinoma of renal pelvis: a case report]. 790 May 68


1 2 3 4 5 Next >>