Abstract
High levels of neurotensin-like immunoreactivity were found in human small cell lung carcinoma lines. No immunoreactivity was present in non-small cell carcinoma lines and only low amounts in postmortem human lung tissue. The immunoreactive material co-eluted with synthetic neurotensin on two different chromatographic systems. No evidence was obtained for the presence of specific neurotensin binding sites in any of the small cell carcinoma lines examined. The results suggest that small lung cell carcinoma lines may be useful for studying the biosynthesis of human neurotensin.
Highlights
It is unknown whether the tumour hormone production is a simple reflection of derepression of genetic material consequent to dedifferentiation or whether the hormones exert a positive influence on the growth of the tumour cells through an autocrine mechanism (Sporn & Todaro, 1980)
It has been shown that these cell lines invariably produce high levels of material immunoreactive with antibodies raised against the amphibian peptide bombesin (Moody et al, 1981) and a recent study has indicated that the immunoreactive material probably corresponds to the mammalian peptide gastrin-releasing peptide (Yamaguchi, 1983)
Its physiological role is unknown at present it is likely to function as a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator (Nemeroff et al, 1983). In this communication we report the presence of high concentrations of neurotensin-like immunoreactivity (NTLI) and the absence of xenopsin-like immunoreactivity (XPLI) and of neurotensin receptors in all small cell lung carcinoma lines examined
Summary
The small cell lung cancer lines MAR, POC and FRE were kindly donated by Dr M. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Sutton, England. The line NCI-H69 was a gift from Dr D. The small cell lung cancer culture COR/L32 and non-small cell lung cancer cultures COR/L26 and COR/L23 were derived by Dr P.R. Twentyman (MRC Clinical Oncology and Radiotherapeutics Unit, MRC Centre, Cambridge, U.K.) from clinical samples. Full details of the morphological and biochemical characteristics of these cultures will be described elsewhere (Twentyman et al, in preparation). Post-mortem lung tissue was obtained from four elderly patients who had died of nonpulmonary diseases (the time elapsed between the death of the patients and the removal of the tissues amounted to 20-48 h). The tumour cells were grown as multicellular spheroids which were disaggregated mechanically without prior enzymic digestion
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
