Abstract
Immunoreactive ACTH was found in almost all tissue extracts of lung carcinoma from patients without clinical evidence of Cushing's syndrome; i.e. 14 of 15 primary tumors, nine of nine metastatic lymph nodes, and four of four metastatic liver nodules contained immunoreactive ACTH. The incidence of ACTH in extracts of other tumor types was much lower. Comparable normal tissues contained no detectable ACTH. Immunoreactive growth hormone, parathyroid hormone, or gastrin was not found in the same carcinoma tissue. The predominant form of ACTH in the tumor extracts was big ACTH. In pituitary extracts little ACTH predominated.
53% of 83 patients with lung carcinoma had afternoon plasma ACTH levels greater than 150 pg/ml; more than 90% of plasmas containing less than 150 pg/ml were obtained from patients who had received radiation therapy or chemotherapy. 31% of 45 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 28% of 25 patients with other severe lung disease, and 6% of 33 controls had elevated values. Big ACTH predominated in the plasma of patients with lung carcinoma or COPD having elevated ACTH levels. Tissue from the lung of a smoking dog with atypical histologic changes contained immunoreactive ACTH, almost exclusively in the big form, while tissue from another smoking dog that was histologically normal contained no ACTH. Thus ACTH may be present even in precancerous lung lesions. These studies suggest that serial plasma ACTH levels may be of value in screening for, and/or management of, patients with carcinoma of the lung.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Beck C., Burger H. G. Evidence for the presence of immunoreactive growth hormone in cancers of the lung and stomach. Cancer. 1972 Jul;30(1):75–79. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197207)30:1<75::aid-cncr2820300112>3.0.co;2-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Berson S. A., Yalow R. S. Peptide hormones in plasma. Harvey Lect. 1966;62:107–163. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Berson S. A., Yalow R. S. Radioimmunoassay of ACTH in plasma. J Clin Invest. 1968 Dec;47(12):2725–2751. doi: 10.1172/JCI105955. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hauger-Klevene J. H. Asymptomatic production of ACTH. Radio immunoassay in squamous cell, oat cell and adenocarcinoma of the lung. Cancer. 1968 Dec;22(6):1262–1267. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(196811)22:6<1262::aid-cncr2820220625>3.0.co;2-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Knight R. A., Ratcliffe J. G., Besser G. M. Tumour ACTH concentrations in ectopic ACTH syndrome and in control tissues. Proc R Soc Med. 1971 Dec;64(12):1266–1267. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Liddle G. W., Nicholson W. E., Island D. P., Orth D. N., Abe K., Lowder S. C. Clinical and laboratory studies of ectopic humoral syndromes. Recent Prog Horm Res. 1969;25:283–314. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-571125-8.50009-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Murphy B. E. Some studies of the protein-binding of steroids and their application to the routine micro and ultramicro measurement of various steroids in body fluids by competitive protein-binding radioassay. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1967 Jul;27(7):973–990. doi: 10.1210/jcem-27-7-973. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Orth D. N., Nicholson W. E., Mitchell W. M., Island D. P., Liddle G. W. Biologic and immunologic characterization and physical separation of ACTH and ACTH fragments in the ectopic ACTH syndrome. J Clin Invest. 1973 Jul;52(7):1756–1769. doi: 10.1172/JCI107357. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Yalow R. S., Berson S. A. Characteristics of "big ACTH" in human plasma and pituitary extracts. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1973 Mar;36(3):415–423. doi: 10.1210/jcem-36-3-415. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Yalow R. S., Berson S. A. Size heterogeneity of immunoreactive human ACTH in plasma and in extracts of pituitary glands and ACTH-producing thymoma. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1971 Jul 16;44(2):439–445. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(71)90620-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]