Immunoreactive somatostatin and calcitonin in pulmonary neuroendocrine tumor

A well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung that secreted immunoreactive somatostatin (IR-SRIF) and IR-calcitonin (CT) in a 72-year-old women is described. The plasma concentrations of IR-SRIF (57.5 pg/ml) and IR-CT (340 pg/ml) before operation were significantly higher than the respective normal ranges. After resection of the tumor, the plasma CT level (105 pg/ml) decreased to within the normal range, and the SRIF level (32.7 pg/ml) also decreased, but was still abnormally higher, which suggested the presence of an unidentified remnant of the tumor. Abnormal accumulation of technetium 99m (99mTc) in the lumbar vertebrae was found 6 months after the operation, which indicated a metastatic tumor. The tissue concentrations of IR-SRIF and IR-CT were 103 and 94 ng/g wet weight, respectively, and SRIF-IR tumor cells and CT-IR tumor cells were demonstrated immunohistochemically. On gel-filtration chromatography of the tumor tissue, two peaks of SRIF immunoreactivity were eluted in the positions of synthetic SRIF-28 and SRIF-14, respectively. Conversion of SRIF-28 to SRIF-14 was suggested from results on changes in the two IR-SRIF components during incubation with a crude enzyme preparation extracted from the tumor tissue.