Serum ProGRP Research Articles

Clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma with elevated serum progastrin-releasing peptide levels.

Progastrin-releasing peptide (proGRP) is a specific tumor marker in patients with small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). It has been reported that serum proGRP levels rarely are elevated in patients with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC); the reported frequency is <3%. The purpose of this study was to examine the clinicopathologic features of NSCLC patients with high serum proGRP levels. The authors measured serum proGRP levels with a TND-4 kit, a newly developed enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay, in 544 NSCLC and 206 SCLC patients. Pathologic features were examined using conventional hematoxylin and eosin staining and histochemical and immunohistochemical staining using polyclonal antibodies to proGRP, chromogranin A, calcitonin, and monoclonal antibody to the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCC-Lu-243). The serum proGRP levels were elevated in 140 SCLC patients (68.0%) and in 23 NSCLC patients (4.2%). Seven of these 23 NSCLC patients had serum proGRP levels > or = 100 pg/mL. They included two patients with renal dysfunction, one patient diagnosed cytologically with adenocarcinoma without undergoing precise pathologic examination, two patients diagnosed histologically with squamous cell carcinoma with foci of small cell elements, and two patients diagnosed with large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, respectively, which showed neuroendocrine differentiation on immunohistologic analysis. The remaining 16 NSCLC patients had serum proGRP levels < 70 pg/mL. Nearly all NSCLC patients had serum proGRP levels < 100 pg/mL. However, if an NSCLC patient presents with a proGRP level > or = 100 pg/mL, the clinicopathologic features must be examined with regard to the small cell component, neuroendocrine differentiation, and renal dysfunction.

Age-related changes of serum progastrin-releasing peptide levels during childhood.

Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) has attracted much attention in recent years because it has become recognized as a significant tissue-specific growth factor. To investigate the physiological significance of this peptide in growing children, the time course of serum ProGRP(31-98) level, a precursor hormone of GRP, in children was assessed. A total of 118 serum samples including cord blood was examined with informed consent by using a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system to measure serum ProGRP(31-98). The serum ProGRP(31-98) level was highest in cord blood and neonatal samples, rapidly declined by 1 year of age and then gradually declined to the adult level by 5 years of age. This time-dependent change of serum ProGRP(31-98) level suggests the importance of GRP as a physiological growth factor in fetal and neonatal tissues.

Pro-gastrin-releasing peptide(31-98) as a tumour marker of small-cell lung cancer: comparative evaluation with neuron-specific enolase

We attempted to clarify whether serum levels of a carboxy-terminal fragment of ProGRP, ProGRP(31-98), could serve as a more accurate tumour marker in patients with SCLC than neuron-specific enolase (NSE). ProGRP(31-98) and NSE were measured retrospectively in 101 newly diagnosed untreated patients with SCLC, 111 with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 114 patients with non-malignant lung diseases. ProGRP(31-98) and NSE levels were determined using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Sensitivity in SCLC patients was 72.3% for ProGRP(31-98) and 62.4% for NSE. Comparing the area under curve (AUC) of 'receiver operator characteristics' of ProGRP(31-98) with that of NSE, ProGRP(31-98) was the more powerful marker in the diagnosis of SCLC (P = 0.0001). Serum levels of ProGRP(31-98) were higher in the 40 patients with extensive disease than in the 61 patients with limited disease (P = 0.0082). ProGRP(31-98) was significantly higher in patients with pure small-cell carcinoma than in patients with mixed small-cell/large-cell carcinoma (P = 0.02). In serial measurement in 16 patients responding to treatment, a high degree of correlation was noted between the decrease in serum ProGRP(31-98) levels and clinical response during the second week after treatment (P = 0.0045). These results indicate that the determination of serum ProGRP(31-98) levels plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of SCLC patients.

Comparison of serum proGRP and NSE levels in patients with small cell carcinoma

Comparison of serum proGRP and NSE levels in patients with small cell carcinoma