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)

Ninety-one human tumors, including various common carcinomas, low-grade malignant tumors, and benign tumors, were transplanted into athymic nude mice. Tumor take was confirmed histologically for 22 neoplasms at the initial transplantation, and 14 serially transplantable tumors were established, including some hitherto unestablished or unreported, such as lung and hepatic cell carcinomas. Among the 91 tumors were 21, 14, and 13 carcinomas of the lung, stomach, and breast, respectively. Transplantability was highest in lung carcinomas (10/21), followed by gastric carcinomas (2/14) and breast carcinomas (1/13). Morphology of original tumors was retained well in most transplanted tumors, but desmoplastic or scirrhous tumors, such as gastric and breast carcinomas, tended to become medullary with a decrease in amount of tumor stroma. The ability to produce mucin in gastric carcinomas or melanin in malignant melanoma was maintained in serially transplantable tumors. In addition, ectopic production of adrenocorticotropin and beta melanocyte-stimulating hormone continued in a transplanted small cell carcinoma of the lung. Preliminary results were obtained on hormone dependency of the transplantable breast carcinoma and on alpha1-fetoprotein in the transplantable hepatic cell carcinoma.
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PMID:Transplantation of human tumors in nude mice. 18 24

A morphologic, histochemical, and immunocytochemical study of 20 cases of pure gastrointestinal carcinoids, adenocarcinomas, and mixed neoplasms composed of both elements, so-called composite carcinoma-carcinoid tumors (CCC), was undertaken in order to correlate the morphologic patterns with the immunocytochemical localization of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), serotonin, and a battery of polypeptide hormones (calcitonin, glucagon, insulin, gastrin, somatostatin, and adrenocorticotropin [ACTH]). Paraffin sections from five pure carcinoids, seven pure adenocarcinomas, and eight CCC from the stomach, small bowel, appendix, and colon were studied with mucicarmine, silver impregnation stains, and a peroxidase-anti-peroxidase technic. Of the eight CCC, all were mucin positive, four were argyrophilic, and three were argentaffin positive. CEA was present in all eight, serotonin in seven, and calcitonin in one. No other neurohormonal peptides were demonstrated. The distribution of serotonin and CEA generally corresponded to the morphologic pattern, but discordance was observed in two cases, i.e., serotonin was not always localized to areas of carcinoid and CEA not always confined to areas of carcinoma. All five pure carcinoids demonstrated intracytoplasmic localization of serotonin, whereas none contained intracytoplasmic CEA. In two cases, CEA was present within acinar lumens only. The seven colonic adenocarcinomas were argyrophil and argentaffin negative. All contained CEA within the cytoplasm and in gland lumens. None contained serotonin. None of the neurohormonal peptides was localized in either pure adenocarcinomas or carcinoids. This study reveals that among gastrointestinal neoplasms displaying morphologic patterns of adenocarcinoma and carcinoid, immunocytochemical localization of CEA and serotonin confirms their bidirectional differentiation and justifies the designation "composite carcinoma-carcinoid."
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PMID:Composite carcinoma-carcinoid tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. A morphologic, histochemical, and immunocytochemical study. 389 86

The cell source of peptide hormone production and the morphological differentiation were investigated in 18 adenocarcinomas of the lung by immunohistochemistry and/or by electron microscopy. These tumors were found by radioimmunoassay of tumor extracts to contain either one or more of 7 peptide hormones, i.e. adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), beta- and gamma-melanocyte stimulating hormones (MSH), somatostatin (SS), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) and calcitonin (CT). In a combined adeno- and small cell carcinoma, a considerable number of small tumor cells were positively stained for ACTH, beta- and gamma-MSHs and GRP. In a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with mucin and CT production, these products were localized in some single cells. Electron microscopy revealed secretory granules indistinguishable from exocrine or endocrine types. In another mucin-positive adenocarcinoma with high SS and CT contents, some tumor cells were stained for SS and/or CT. Two distinct exocrine and endocrine type secretory granules were found in the same cells. In tumors with 100 ng or less of the peptides/g tissue, most tumor cells were not stained for the peptides but a small number showed morphological endocrine differentiation. In conclusion, a considerable proportion of the adenocarcinomas of the lung may show heterogeneous differentiation in both endocrine and exocrine directions.
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PMID:Peptide hormone production by adenocarcinomas of the lung; its morphologic basis and histogenetic considerations. 613 98

Fourteen of fifty-three cases of endometrial carcinoma (26 per cent) contained varying, usually small numbers of argyrophil cells, as demonstrated by Grimelius silver nitrate staining of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections. In eight cases the argyrophilia was present in the apical region of glandular cells (type 1 cells) or throughout the cytoplasm of glandular or squamous cells (type 2 cells). The distribution of argyrophilia in these cells closely paralleled that of mucin or glycogen, and pretreatment of the sections with disease resulted in a loss of argyrophilia in the glycogen-rich tumors. In six cases individual round, ovoid, and flask-shaped argyrophilic cells were present also within the glandular epithelium (type 3 cells). In all six cases, similarly distributed cells were positive immunohistochemically for serotonin. Immunohistochemical staining for a battery of polypeptide hormones (calcitonin, gastrin, somatostatin, adrenocorticotropin [ACTH], and neurotensin) revealed positive staining for ACTH in one of the six tumors that contained type 3 cells and positive staining for somatostatin in another. Ultrastructural examination of the ACTH- and serotonin-positive tumor disclosed cells with granules 80 nm in diameter. Types 1 and 2 argyrophil cells were found in small numbers in several specimens of normal proliferative and secretory endometrium, but type 3 argyrophil cells were not identified in these specimens. Although focal argyrophilia is a frequent feature of endometrial carcinomas (26 per cent), the presence of type 3 argyrophil cells containing hormones, as evidenced by the immunohistochemical demonstration of serotonin and occasionally polypeptide hormones, is much less common (11 per cent).
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PMID:Endometrial carcinoma with argyrophil cells: a histochemical and immunohistochemical analysis. 614 92

When exposed to prolonged stress, rats develop gastric ulceration, enhanced colon motility with depletion of its mucin content and signs of physiological and behavioral arousal. In this model, we tested whether antidepressants (fluoxetine and bupropion), anxiolytics (diazepam and buspirone) or the novel nonpeptide corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) type-1 receptor (CRH-R1) antagonist, antalarmin, modify these responses. Fluoxetine, bupropion, diazepam and antalarmin all suppressed stress-induced gastric ulceration in male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to four hours of plain immobilization. Antalarmin produced the most pronounced anti-ulcer effect and additionally suppressed the stress-induced colonic hypermotility, mucin depletion, autonomic hyperarousal and struggling behavior. Intraperitoneal CRH administration reproduced the intestinal but not the gastric responses to stress while vagotomy antagonized the stress-induced gastric ulceration but not the intestinal responses. We conclude that brain CRH-R1 and vagal pathways are essential for gastric ulceration to occur in response to stress and that peripheral CRH-R1 mediates colonic hypermotility and mucin depletion in this model. Nonpeptide CRH-R1 antagonists may therefore be prophylactic against stress ulcer in the critically ill and therapeutic for other pathogenetically related gastrointestinal disorders such as peptic ulcer disease and irritable bowel syndrome.
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PMID:Marked suppression of gastric ulcerogenesis and intestinal responses to stress by a novel class of drugs. 1208 65

Stress, defined as an acute threat to homeostasis, evokes an adaptive or allostatic response and can have both a short- and long-term influence on the function of the gastrointestinal tract. The enteric nervous system is connected bidirectionally to the brain by parasympathetic and sympathetic pathways forming the brain-gut axis. The neural network of the brain, which generates the stress response, is called the central stress circuitry and includes the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, amygdala and periaqueductal gray. It receives input from the somatic and visceral afferent pathways and also from the visceral motor cortex including the medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate and insular cortex. The output of this central stress circuit is called the emotional motor system and includes automatic efferents, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and pain modulatory systems. Severe or long-term stress can induce long-term alteration in the stress response (plasticity). Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) is a key mediator of the central stress response. Two CRF receptor subtypes, R1 and R2, have been described. They mediate increased colonic motor activity and slowed gastric emptying, respectively, in response to stress. Specific CRF receptor antagonists injected into the 0 block these visceral manifestations of stress. Circulating glucocorticoids exert an inhibitory effect on the stress response by receptors located in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Many other neurotransmitters and neuroimmunomodulators are being evaluated. Stress increases the intestinal permeability to large antigenic molecules. It can lead to mast cell activation, degranulation and colonic mucin depletion. A reversal of small bowel water and electrolyte absorption occurs in response to stress and is mediated cholinergically. Stress also leads to increased susceptibility to colonic inflammation, which can be adaptively transferred among rats by sensitized CD4(+) lymphocytes. The association between stress and various gastrointestinal diseases, including functional bowel disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, peptic ulcer disease and gastroesophageal reflux disease, is being actively investigated. Attention to the close relation between the brain and gut has opened many therapeutic avenues for the future.
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PMID:Stress and the gastrointestinal tract. 1574 Apr 74

Pituitary adenoma is a rare neoplasm in childhood, with prolactin and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting adenomas predominating in this age group. Herein is reported a case of an ACTH-producing macroadenoma with an unusual histology that occurred in a 2-year-old girl. Because of the patient's age and the macroadenoma's suprasellar location and large size (up to 4 cm in diameter), radical surgery was performed under the suspicion of craniopharyngioma or germ-cell tumor. Pathologically, it was a unique pituitary adenoma composed of monotonous ACTH-producing cells, smaller folliculo-stellate cells (FSC), and mucin-producing cells. The FSC, non-hormone-secreting pituitary cells of uncertain function, were confirmed by their S-100 protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein and cytokeratin expression immunoprofiles. The abrupt transition between the prominent gland-forming mucin-producing epithelia and the FSC component suggested that the mucin-producing epithelia might be derived from the FSC. This association might represent so-called 'retrodifferentiation' of adenoma cells to the FSC and the precursor cells of Rathke's pouch.
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PMID:Pituitary adenoma with rich folliculo-stellate cells and mucin-producing epithelia arising in a 2-year-old girl. 1768 32