Related Experiment Videos
Malignant gastric ghrelinoma with hyperghrelinemia
Apostolos V Tsolakis1, Guida M Portela-Gomes, Mats Stridsberg
1Department of Medical Sciences, Section of Endocrine Oncology, Uppsala University Hospital, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden. apostolos.tsolakis@medsci.uu.se
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
|August 5, 2004
Summary
This study details a patient with a malignant gastric neuroendocrine tumor that excessively produces the hormone ghrelin. High ghrelin levels were observed, suggesting a potential new tumor entity requiring investigation.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Oncology
- Gastroenterology
Background:
- Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are characterized by hormone production.
- Ghrelin, a peptide hormone, stimulates growth hormone (GH) release.
- Gastric NETs can present with unique hormonal profiles.
Observation:
- A patient presented with a metastasizing gastric NET.
- Tumor biopsies showed immunoreactivity for cytokeratin, chromogranin A, and ghrelin.
- Extremely high circulating levels of total ghrelin (2100 µg/L) and active ghrelin (28 µg/L) were detected.
Findings:
- The gastric NET intensely expressed ghrelin.
- Elevated levels of ghrelin, chromogranin A, chromogranin B, and calcitonin were found in the patient's blood.
- Ghrelin levels continued to rise despite treatment.
Implications:
- This case may represent a novel entity of gastric neuroendocrine tumors.
- Investigating ghrelin production in patients with malignant gastric NETs is recommended.
- Understanding ghrelin's role in gastric NETs could lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.