This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a related Letter to the Editor Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by MODIGLIANI, E. Articles by CALMETTES, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by MODIGLIANI, E. Articles by CALMETTES, C.

Immunoreactive Gastrin-Releasing Peptide in Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma

Department of Endocrinology (E.M., S.C., R.C.), Paris XIII University, Hôpital Avicenne 93009 Bobigny, France;
INSERM U45 (J.A.C., C.B.), Hôpital Edouard Herriot 69379 Lyon Cedex 08, France;
Department of Pathology (B.F.), Hôpital Ambroise Paré 92100 Boulogne, France;
INSERM U113 (C.C.) Hôpital Saint Antoine 75012 Paris, France

Address requests for reprints to: E. Modigliani, Department of Endocrinology, Paris XIII University, Hôpital Avicenne, 93009 Bobigny, France.

This paper was the work of GETC, a French group of medullary thyroid tumor. This work was supported in part by CNAMTS Grant 387 (to J.A.C.).

We have previously shown that immunoassayable concentration of somatostatin (SRIH) was elevated in 70% of 34 consecutive medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) tissue samples. In the present study gastrin releasing peptide (GRP)- like immunoreactivity was measured in tissue extracts from these 34 MTC (25 inherited, 7 sporadic, 2 unclassified) and in 7 normal thyroid tissue. Plasma SRIH, calcitonin (CT) and carcinoembryonic antigen were assayed in all patients. Normal thyroid tissue contained less than 61 pmol GRP per g wet weight; in contrast GRP concentration was elevated (62–7800 pmol/g) in 32/34 tumor extracts. The distribution of tissue GRP values were similar in sporadic as well as in familial MTC. We found no significant correlation between tumor GRP concentration and plasma SRIH (r = –0.05), plasma CT (r = –0.24), or plasma carcinoembryonic antigen levels (r = –0.21). Tumor concentrations of immunoreactive GRP and SRIH were positively correlated when logarithmic transformation was used (P < 0.01). Thus GRP, as well as SRIH, is a major product of tumoral C cells in human MTC when systematically evaluated in a large number of cases.

Received June 1, 1989.