Heterogeneity of circulating calcitonin levels: relations with calcitonin biosynthesis in medullary thyroid...

Calcitonin (CT), a hypocalcemic and hypophosphatemic hormone, is produced by the C-cells of the thyroid gland. It is the main tumoral marker of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Hypersecretion of CT is also associated with other types of tumors. Thus, heterogeneity of circulating CT can play an important role in the accurate determination of hormone levels in blood samples obtained from MTC patients. Further studies will be necessary to establish the predictive value of the several peptides coded by the calcitonin gene family. All of them specifically reflect the ways and the pattern of alternative splicing of the primary transcript of the Calc I gene. Such relations implicate further investigations concerning the relationship between calcitonin circulating levels, biosynthetic activity of C-cells and the expression of gene encoding for this hormone, in normal and neoplastic conditions.