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The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 86, No. 1 251-258
Copyright © 2001 by The Endocrine Society


Original Studies

The Predominant Cholecystokinin in Human Plasma and Intestine Is Cholecystokinin-331

J. F. Rehfeld, G. Sun, T. Christensen and J. G. Hillingsø

Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. J. F. Rehfeld, Department Clinical Biochemistry (KB 3011), Rigshospitalet, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: rehfeld{at}rh.dk


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 CCK nomenclature
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Cholecystokinin (CCK) occurs in multiple molecular forms; the major ones are CCK-58, -33, -22, and -8. Their relative abundance in human plasma and intestine, however, is debated. To settle the issue, extracts of intestinal biopsies and plasma from 10 human subjects have been examined by chromatography, enzyme cleavages, and measurements using a library of sequence-specific RIAs. Plasma samples were drawn in the fasting state and at intervals after a meal. The abundance of the larger forms varied with the 8 C-terminal assays in the library, as 2 assays overestimated and 3 underestimated the amounts present. One assay, however, measured carboxyamidated and O-sulfated CCKs with equimolar potency before and after tryptic cleavage. This assay showed that the predominant plasma form is CCK-33, both in the fasting state (~51%) and postprandially (~57%), whereas CCK-22 is the second most abundant (~34% and 30%, respectively). In contrast, CCK-58 is less abundant in human intestines (~18%) and plasma (~11%). Its predominance in feline intestines, however, was confirmed. Hence, the results show a significant species variation and emphasize the necessity of highly specific and well characterized assays in molecular studies of CCK.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 CCK nomenclature
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
CHOLECYSTOKININ (CCK) is an important gut hormone that regulates gallbladder contraction, pancreatic enzyme secretion, hormone secretion, and growth. Moreover, CCK influences intestinal motility and satiety (for reviews, see Refs. 1 and 2). The hormonal effects are due to CCK in plasma that originates almost entirely from I cells in the small intestinal mucosa (3, 4). CCK peptides are also expressed in large quantities in neurons (5, 6), but neuronal CCK contributes negligibly to CCK in plasma.

CCK was first identified in extracts of porcine small intestine as a carboxyamidated and tyrosyl O-sulfated peptide containing 33 amino acid residues (CCK-33) (7). Subsequent studies have shown that pro-CCK is processed at several mono- and dibasic sites to release bioactive forms of different lengths. To date these include CCK-83, CCK-58, CCK-39, CCK-33, CCK-22, and CCK-8, that are all carboxyamidated and O-sulfated (5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) and, hence, ligands for the CCK-A receptor. There is general agreement that the predominant form of CCK in central and peripheral neurons is CCK-8 (for reviews, see Refs. 14 and 15). In contrast, there have been remarkably diverging opinions about the main form in plasma and intestinal tissue. The suggestions have varied from CCK-8 to CCK-58 (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23).

To understand the function of a hormone, it is essential to know the molecular form in which it circulates. For heterogeneous hormones at least the predominant form in plasma should be known. In this regard it is amazing that consensus still remains to be reached about the molecular nature of CCK in plasma. Much of the problem appears to be due to variations in technology and assay quality (for review, see Ref. 24). Two laboratories have repeatedly reported that CCK-58 is the major hormonal form of CCK in several mammals, including man (22, 25, 26). Their claim has gained widespread acceptance even though it is at odds with observations in other laboratories (18, 20, 21, 27). To settle the discrepancy, we have now studied the molecular pattern of CCK in biopsies of human small intestine and in plasma sampled in fasting and fed normal human subjects using a new assay that measures the bioactive forms of CCK with equimolar potency. Moreover, this assay does not react with the homologous hormone, gastrin (28).


    CCK nomenclature
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 CCK nomenclature
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Human pro-CCK is a protein of 95 amino acid residues. The earliest posttranslational modification of pro-CCK appears to be O-sulfation of Tyr77, Tyr91, and Tyr94 by sulfotransferases in the trans-Golgi network of the I cells. Sequence 83–86 (Phe-Gly-Arg-Arg) constitutes the amidation site, which requires processing by prohormone convertases, carboxypeptidase E, and the amidation enzyme complex to release bioactive carboxyamidated CCK peptides (Fig. 1Go). The largest bioactive form is CCK-83, which corresponds to the amidated sequence 1–83 of pro-CCK (13). This sequence is cleaved at five or more monobasic sites to release CCK-58, -39, -33, -22, and -8, all of which have the same C-terminal heptapeptide amide sequence (-Tyr(SO3-)-Met-Gly-Trp-Met-Asp-PheNH2), that also is the minimal epitope necessary for receptor binding. Binding to CCK-A receptors requires that the tyrosyl residue of the heptapeptide amide is O-sulfated, whereas CCK-B receptors do not discriminate sulfated from nonsulfated CCK peptides or CCK from gastrin peptides (for review, see Ref. 29).



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Figure 1. Scheme of pro-CCK processing in I-cells of the small intestine.

 
Although pro-CCK may be processed to more than the bioactive peptides mentioned above, the present study deals only with the four major components that are resolved by the chromatography employed. These are CCK-58, -33, -22, and -8. Such distinction allows the best overview of the molecular heterogeneity, but does not exclude that the chromatographic CCK-33 peak also contains a small amount of CCK-39 and/or that the CCK-8 peak contain traces of CCK-7 (9). Metabolism of these variant forms, however, is similar to that of the corresponding main form (i.e. CCK-39 vs. CCK-33, and CCK-7 vs. CCK-8).


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 CCK nomenclature
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Tissue extracts

Biopsies of human jejunal or ileal mucosa were obtained from the Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, and feline jejunal mucosa from anesthetized cats was obtained from the Department of Experimental Pathology, Rigshospitalet (Copenhagen, Denmark). The biopsies of human small intestine were histologically normal jejunal or ileal mucosa from resections for midgut carcinoid tumors. The tissue samples were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen. The biopsy collection was approved by the local ethics committee. The frozen tissue was cut into pieces of a few milligrams, boiled in water (10 mL/g tissue) for 20 min, homogenized, and centrifuged at 10,000 x g for 30 min at 4 C. The supernatant was decanted (neutral extract), and the pellet was then redissolved in ice-cold acetic acid (10 mL/g), left at room temperature for 20 min, and centrifuged as described above (acid extract). The extracts were stored at -40 C until analysis.

Plasma for CCK quantitations

Blood samples were collected into chilled tubes containing 3.9 µmol ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA)/mL blood. Within 30 min, the samples were centrifuged at 3000 x g at 4 C for 10 min. The plasma was stored at -20 C until extraction, which was performed as follows. One volume of plasma (usually 1.0 mL) was mixed with 2 vol 960 mL/L ethanol on a whirlmixer for 10 s. The mixture was then centrifuged for 30 min at 1200 x g, and the supernatant was decanted and evaporated at 37 C in a Speed-Vac concentrator (SVC 200 H, Savant Instruments). The dried extracts were then reconstituted to the original volume with assay buffer and assayed. The basal and postprandial concentrations in plasma were measured in five healthy females and males (mean age, 36 yr) after an overnight fast. The meal consisted of an omelet (two eggs mixed with 10 g flour, 25 mL cream, salt, and pepper) with two slices of bacon, 250 mL orange juice, 250 mL milk, 250 mL yogurt, and two slices of toasted bread with butter and cheese, i.e. 1470 calories, of which 45% was fat, 37% was carbohydrates, and 18% was protein. Blood samples were taken from each of the subjects from 60 min before to 125 min after ingestion of the meal.

Plasma for chromatography

Four healthy persons (two of each sex; mean age, 31 yr) ingested a meal as described above. Blood samples (200 mL) were drawn from an arm vein immediately before the meal as well as 30, 90, and 150 min postprandially. Because it has been suggested (30) that acidification is necessary to prevent in vitro degradation, one half of each blood sample was drawn into EDTA tubes as described above (neutral sample), and the other half was drawn into EDTA tubes containing 1 mL 0.5 mol/L sodium acetate buffer (pH 3.6)/5 mL blood (acid sample). Immediately after centrifugation, 50 mL of the neutral plasma samples were extracted directly on Sep-Pak (Waters Corp., Milford, MA) cartridges, and 50 mL of the acidified plasma were poured slowly into 150 mL 20 g/L trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) under constant stirring (23, 28). This mixture was extracted on Sep-Pak C18 cartridges prewashed with 10 mL 960 mL/L ethanol followed by 10 mL of a 13 mmol/L solution of TFA. Ten milliliters of ice-cooled plasma were then loaded on each cartridge at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. After the cartridge was washed with 10 mL 13 mmol TFA/L, the CCK peptides were eluted by 2 mL 800 mL/L ethanol containing 13 mmol TFA/L. Evaporation of the eluates was performed as previously described. All steps were performed consecutively without freezing the plasma or extracts.

Chromatography

One milliliter of tissue extract or plasma concentrate was applied to a Sephadex G-50 superfine column (10 x 1000 mm) and eluted with either 125 mmol/L NH4HCO3, pH 8.2, or 20 mmol/L sodium veronal, pH 8.4, containing 0.6 mmol/L thiomersal and 1 g/L BSA at 4 C with a flow rate of 4 mL/h. Fractions of 1.0 mL were collected. The columns were calibrated with human CCK-33, CCK-22, and CCK-8 as well as with [125I]albumin and 22NaCl to indicate void (Vo) and total (Vt) volumes.

Enzyme analysis

To measure the immunoreactivity of the larger endogenous forms of CCK, chromatographic fractions of the jejunal tissue extracts were also measured after tryptic cleavage. Each fraction was incubated with trypsin (100 mL/L trypsin-L-p-tosylamino-2-phenylethyl chloromethyl ketone; Worthington Biochemical Corp., Freehold, NJ) for 30 min at 20 C. The cleavage was terminated by boiling the fraction for 10 min. Similarly, tissue extracts were cleaved with trypsin before chromatography to ensure their molecular nature. The principles and performance of the tryptic analysis were reported in detail previously (31).

CCK measurements

The measurements of CCK in tissue extracts, plasma, and chromatographic fractions were performed with RIA using a panel of eight high titer CCK antisera specific for the C-terminal {alpha}-amidated sequence of CCK as well as an antiserum specific for the N-terminus of human CCK-22 and an antiserum specific for CCK glycine-extended at the C-terminus. Characteristics of these antisera are presented in Tables 1Go and 2Go. O-Sulfated CCK-8 and CCK-22 were used as standards and in monoiodinated form as tracer labeled by the Bolton-Hunter technique (32). Details of antibody production and assay characteristics were previously reported (28, 32, 33, 34, 35). It should be noted that the antiserum library includes Ab 92128. As previously demonstrated (28), Ab 92128 displays a unique specificity, comprising equimolar binding of all CCK-A receptor ligand forms of CCK regardless of size and length, and at the same time it does not bind any gastrins. The CCK assay using Ab 92128 consequently quantitates the different molecular forms of CCK accurately. Also the use of Ab 89009 (directed against the N-terminus of human CCK-22) to measure CCK precursors (34) and Ab 3208 to measure glycine-extended CCKs should be noted (35).


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Table 1. Characteristics of antisera specific for the {alpha}-amidated C-terminus of bioactive CCKs

 

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Table 2. Concentrations of CCK-58-like peptides in eight chromatographic pools of extracts of human jejunal mucosa (picomoles per L) as measured with RIAs using different C-terminal specific antisera

 
Gastrin measurements

Control measurements of related gastrin peptides were performed by RIA using antiserum 2604, which binds all carboxyamidated gastrins (gastrin-71, -34, -17, and -14) with equimolar potency regardless of their degree of sulfation. Antiserum 2604 does not bind any CCK peptide (33).


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 CCK nomenclature
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Reactivity of CCK-58 from the human intestinal mucosa with antisera specific for the {alpha}-amidated C-terminus

CCK-58-like peptides in chromatographic fractions of the neutral and acid extracts of the four biopsies (i.e. eight individual extract pools) were assayed in five different dilutions. As shown in Table 2Go, the assays using C-terminal specific antisera measured the content of CCK-58-like peptides differently. The assay using Ab 92128 have been shown to measure CCK-58, CCK-33, CCK-22, and the standard peptide (CCK-8) with equimolar potency (28). Therefore, the results obtained using this antiserum are assumed to be accurate. Table 2Go then shows that the assays employing antisera 92127 and 92138 overestimate the amount of CCK-58, whereas the assays employing antisera 8007 and 92132 measures CCK-58 with almost the same potency as Ab 92128. Finally, the assays using antisera 2609, 2717 and 92136 underestimate the amount of CCK-58 in the jejunal mucosa.

CCK in extracts of jejunal mucosa

When measured with the specific CCK assay that binds the four main forms of CCK with equimolar potency (using Ab 92128), the human jejunal mucosa contained, as shown in Table 3Go, a total of 37.7 ± 11.9 pmol bioactive CCK/g tissue (mean ± SEM; n = 5); bioactive CCK were products of pro-CCK that are both carboxyamidated and O-sulfated. In addition, the mucosal extracts contained, on the average, 1.9 pmol/g tissue of the immediate precursor, the glycine-extended CCK, and 56.1 pmol/g tissue of even less mature processing-intermediates and pro-CCK. Tiny amounts of amidated gastrin (<1 pmol/g) were also detected in the control measurements (Table 3Go). Chromatography revealed a molecular pattern as shown in Fig. 2Go. Of the amidated and O-sulfated bioactive forms, the longer CCK-58- and CCK-33-like peptides were extracted under acidic conditions, whereas the neutral extracts contained mainly CCK-22- and CCK-8-like forms (Fig. 2Go, left). CCK-33-like peptides were predominant and more abundant than CCK-58- and CCK-22-like peptides (Fig. 2Go and Table 4Go). Nonamidated pro-CCK and/or processing intermediates occurred mainly in the neutral intestinal extract (Fig. 2Go, right). As they were measured using an assay against glycine-extended CCK after in vitro cleavage of the chromatographic fractions with trypsin and carboxypeptidase B, the chromatography suggests that pro-CCK is cleaved at four basic sites (or more) in its N-terminal sequence.


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Table 3. Concentrations of pro-CCK and progastrin products in human jejunal mucosa (picomoles per g)

 


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Figure 2. Gel chromatography of acid ({circ}) and neutral (•) extracts of human jejunal mucosa. The extracts were applied to Sephadex G-50 superfine columns (1 x 100 cm) and eluted with 0.02 mol/L sodium veronal, pH 8.4, containing 1 g/l BSA. The chromatographic elutions were monitored with the CCK-specific RIA using antibody 92128. The elution positions of known molecular forms of CCK are indicated. The elution of the large nonamidated processing intermediates (right) was monitored by a RIA specific for glycine-extended CCKs (using Ab.3208) after each fraction was incubated with trypsin and carboxypeptidase B. The specificity was subsequently corroborated by measurement of the enzyme-treated fractions with the human CCK-specific RIA (using Ab89009) (34 ).

 

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Table 4. Molecular pattern of CCK in human jejunal mucosa (percentage)

 
Gel chromatography of the feline jejunal extracts revealed a pattern in which CCK-58-like peptides predominated, but where significant amounts of CCK-33-, CCK-22-, and CCK-8-like peptides were also present (Fig. 3Go).



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Figure 3. Gel chromatography of acid ({circ}) and neutral (•) extracts of feline jejunal mucosa. The extracts was applied to Sephadex G-50 superfine columns (1 x 100 cm) and eluted with 0.02 mol/L sodium veronal, pH 8.4, containing 1 g/L BSA. The chromatographic elutions were monitored with the CCK-specific RIA using antibody 92128. The elution positions of known molecular forms of CCK are indicated.

 
CCK in plasma extracts

The concentrations of carboxyamidated and O-sulfated CCK in plasma rose 5-fold after a protein-rich meal, i.e. from 0.9 to 4.6 pmol/L (Table 5Go). As shown in Table 6Go and Fig. 4Go (left), bioactive CCK eluted by chromatography in peaks corresponding to CCK-58, CCK-33, CCK-22, and CCK-8. Of these, the CCK-33-like peptides predominated, and the CCK-22-like form was the second most abundant. CCK-58 and CCK-8 constituted minor fractions of the plasma CCK regardless of whether neutral or acid extractions were examined chromatographically (Table 6Go).


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Table 5. Concentrations of bioactive CCK in human plasma before and at intervals after ingestion of a protein-rich meal (picomoles per L)

 

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Table 6. Molecular pattern of CCK in normal human plasma in the fasting state and at intervals after a meal (percentage)

 


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Figure 4. Gel chromatography of acid ({circ}) and neutral (•) extracts of basal and postprandial plasma from a healthy young human subject. The concentrated plasma extracts were applied to Sephadex G-50 superfine columns (1 x 100 cm) and eluted with 0.02 mol/L sodium veronal (pH 8.4) containing 1 g/L BSA. The chromatographic elutions were monitored with the CCK-specific RIA using Ab.92128. The elution positions of known molecular forms of CCK are indicated. The elution of the large nonamidated processing intermediates (right) were monitored by a RIA specific for glycine-extended CCKs (using Ab.3208) after each fraction was incubated with trypsin and carboxypeptidase B. The specificity was subsequently corroborated by measurement of the enzyme-treated fractions with the human CCK-specific RIA (using Ab.89009; see Ref. 34).

 
Also plasma contained substantial amounts of nonamidated CCK precursors extended beyond glycine following the C-terminal bioactive site (Fig. 4Go, right). As in the intestinal mucosa, the nonamidated processing intermediates of pro-CCK in plasma eluted in four major peaks. The exact molecular identities of these peaks were not examined in this study.


    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 CCK nomenclature
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
This study has shown that intestinal mucosa as well as plasma contain a multitude of pro-CCK products. In a functional sense the most important products are the CCK-A receptor ligands, i.e. the pro-CCK products that are both carboxyamidated and O-sulfated. Of these, CCK-33 appears to be the most abundant CCK peptide in both intestinal extracts (~35%; Table 4Go and Fig. 2Go) and plasma (~53%; Table 6Go and Fig. 4Go) in man. As mentioned previously, it is possible that a small fraction of what here has been characterized as CCK-33 is, in fact, CCK-39 (11).

The tissue extracts also contain substantial amounts of CCK-8 (31%), which contrasts with the lower percentage of CCK-8 in plasma (~10%). We attribute this discrepancy to a difference in the clearance rates of circulating CCKs. Hence, the short CCK-8 peptide is cleared considerably faster from plasma than the longer CCK-33 (36). The low fraction of CCK-58-like peptides in human plasma (~10%) cannot be explained by a rapid metabolism of CCK-58. On the contrary. If carboxyamidated CCK peptides are released from the I cells to plasma in ratios similar to those found in the extracts of intestinal tissue, a high fraction of CCK-58 should be expected in peripheral plasma, because the long CCK-58 peptide, in analogy with other heterogeneous peptide systems (37, 38), survives longer in circulation than shorter forms. Other mechanisms, therefore, have to be considered to explain the discrepancy between the abundance of CCK-58 in tissue and that in plasma. Such explanation might be that I cells contain a mixture of immature and mature secretory granules, and that the immature granules contain a larger fraction of the less processed CCK-58 than mature granules. Accordingly, the prohormone convertases (PC 1/3, PC 2, and other endoproteases) have had more time for truncation of the peptides in mature granules. As a larger fraction of mature granules is secreted upon stimulation, the percentage of CCK-58 released from I cells is presumably lower than the percentage in tissue extracts. Notably, in vitro degradation at neutral pH cannot explain the low fraction of CCK-58 in plasma, as the fraction of CCK-58 in blood samples drawn in acidified vials contained an even lower percentage of CCK-58. Hence, our data cannot support the contention of rapid in vitro cleavage at neutral pH (22).

One of the new results of this study is the demonstration of large quantities of biologically inactive processing intermediates in both tissue and plasma. Due to the nature of the analysis used for their demonstration, i.e. measurement of glycine-extended CCK after trypsin and carboxypeptidase B cleavage, these long nonamidated polypeptides are processing intermediates, which are extended beyond Gly84 at the C-terminus of pro-CCK. In other words, they are not simple N-terminal desocta or desnona fragments of longer bioactive forms of CCK. Such inactive fragments are also present in tissue and plasma (23, 39), but they have not been measured in this study. The occurrence of substantial amounts of nonamidated CCK processing intermediates in human plasma has been corroborated by processing-independent analysis (40).

The debate about the molecular nature of CCK in plasma, in particular the nature of CCK in human plasma, during the last decade has to a large extent been a debate about CCK-58. In other words, is CCK-58 indeed the predominant hormonal form of CCK in man (for review, see Ref. 24)? It is by now generally agreed that the molecular pattern of CCK in plasma varies among mammals. Hence, plasma from pigs, rats, and rabbits contain mainly CCK-22 and CCK-8 (23, 24, 41), whereas canine plasma has been claimed to harbor mainly CCK-58 (30). In man, however, the reports have been particular controversial. Eysselein, Reeve and co-workers have in analogy with their canine studies (30) maintained that CCK-58 is the major form in human plasma (22), whereas others have found human plasma to contain a heterogeneous mixture, with CCK-33 and CCK-22 being the major forms (18, 21, 27, 28, 42).

Three explanations have been offered to explain the discrepancy concerning CCK-58 in plasma. First, it was suggested that the amount of CCK-58 in plasma has been underestimated, because of specific in vitro degradation at neutral pH (22). Therefore, a procedure involving acidification during sampling and processing of blood was proposed to prevent degradation (22). Even strict adherence to the proposed procedure, however, did not increase the amount of CCK-58 in human plasma. It only decreased the extraction efficiency for the shorter forms, but still not to a degree making CCK-58 the predominant form. Thus, acid extraction results in false low and unequal extraction of different CCK peptides in circulation. Specific in vitro degradation of plasma CCK-58, therefore, cannot explain the discrepancy.

The second explanation suggests that CCK-58, in contrast to other forms of CCK, is bound less well to CCK receptors and antibodies specific for the common C-terminal epitope (43, 44). Accordingly, Reeve et al. suggested that CCK-58 has a structure in which the N-terminal part shields the C-terminal bioactive sequence from receptor or antibody binding (44, 45). Such shielding should reduce the detection by bioassays and immunoassays unless the CCK-58-like material is exposed by tryptic release of CCK-8 (45). It is difficult to know whether the shielding idea is correct. It is, however, an old empirical observation that some C-terminal-directed antibodies may have a lower affinity for N-terminally extended peptides. This was described 2 decades ago for the longer forms of CCK and its homolog gastrin (31, 46). At that time, trypsination was also proposed to ensure accurate immunochemical quantitation of larger CCKs (31). Some antibodies do, however, bind the longer forms with the same affinity as shorter forms (28, 33, 46). Thus, the new antiserum, Ab 92128, binds CCK-58, CCK-33, and CCK-22 with the same affinity as CCK-8 (28). Shielding, therefore, does not interfere with measurements based on Ab 92128, which, as shown in this study, discloses that CCK-58 is only a minor form of CCK in human plasma and tissue, but is a major form in the feline jejunum. In human plasma CCK-33 and -22 are the two most abundant CCKs.

The third explanation addresses some technological problems in the studies, which have proposed CCK-58 to be the major CCK component in human plasma (22, 30). As emphasized previously (24, 28, 47, 48) measurement of CCK in plasma is unusually difficult for several reasons, including extensive C-terminal homology between CCK and gastrin, low plasma concentrations of CCK (>10-fold lower than those of gastrin), and a high degree of molecular heterogeneity for both CCK and gastrin. For practical purposes, plasma CCK assays therefore have to be sensitive RIAs specific for the C-terminus of CCK, but without cross-reactivity with gastrin. The proponents of high levels of CCK-58 in human plasma, however, used subtraction assay systems (22, 30). Subtraction based on combinations of a C-terminal assay, which measures all the carboxyamidated CCKs and gastrins, a gastrin-specific assay, and/or high pressure liquid chromatography separation of the molecular forms of gastrin and CCK may in theory provide accurate measurements, but in practice they never do (see also arguments in Ref. 47). First, both CCK and gastrin circulate in forms of different lengths and degrees of amino acid derivatization. The reactivity of all circulating forms of CCK and gastrin therefore has to be tested with both the cross-reacting and the gastrin-specific assay. None of the laboratories employing subtraction assays has to date reported such specificity evaluations. For instance, neither sulfated human gastrin-34, sulfated human gastrin-14, nor sulfated gastrin-6 has been tested in RIAs or high pressure liquid chromatography systems employed in subtraction assays. Second, since gastrin circulate in concentrations 10–50 times above those of CCK, even a minor gastrin component may easily appear as a major CCK component. Third, identification by reverse phase HPLC of the various molecular forms of CCK and gastrin requires caution. Minute modifications by, for instance, methionyl oxidation or conservative amino acid substitutions among species (i.e. man vs. pig) may change the elution position of sample or calibrator peptide.

Taken together, evaluation of available data indicates that CCK-58 is not the major form of CCK in human plasma. The predominant form is CCK-33, and CCK-22 is the second most abundant. Moreover, the data suggest that subtraction assay technology cannot be used to characterize CCK in plasma. A sensitive and specific bioassay has been shown to provide accurate plasma CCK results (18), but it is too labor-intensive, costly, and inconvenient. Therefore, only sensitive and specific CCK RIAs that recognize all the molecular forms of CCK with similar potency can be used to characterize CCK in human plasma.


    Acknowledgments
 
The skillful technical and secretarial assistance of Alice von der Lieth, Rikke Grønholt Pedersen, and Gitte Runge is gratefully acknowledged. Also, the kind help of Anders H. Johnsen, D.Sc., in controlling the amount and structure of synthetic peptides for standards and calibrations is gratefully acknowledged. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Viktor Mutt, who died only 2 yr ago. Viktor Mutt pioneered the identification of CCK in tissue, and he did it for good reasons as CCK-33 (7 11 ).


    Footnotes
 
1 This work was supported by grants from the Danish Medical Research Council, the Danish Biotechnology Program for Peptide Research, the Danish Cancer Union, the Gangsted Foundation, and the Vissing Foundation. Back

Received May 16, 2000.

Revised September 5, 2000.

Accepted September 15, 2000.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 CCK nomenclature
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

  1. Rehfeld JF. 1989 Cholecystokinin. In: Makhlouf GM, vol ed; Shultz SG, sect ed. Handbook of physiology: the gastrointestinal system, neural and endocrine biology. Baltimore: American Physiological Society; vol 11:337–358.
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  5. Rehfeld JF. 1978 Immunochemical studies on cholecystokinin. II. Distribution and molecular heterogeneity in the central nervous system and small intestine of man and hog. J Biol Chem. 253:4022–4030.[Free Full Text]
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  8. Eysselein VE, Reeve JR, Shively JE, Hawke D, Walsh JH. 1982 Partial structure of a large canine cholecystokinin (CCK-58): amino acid sequence. Peptides. 3:687–691.[CrossRef][Medline]
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