Gilbert F, Chan J S, Benjannet S, Seidah N G, Nadeau P, Duranceau A, Lafontaine E, Beaulieu R, Chrétien M
Clinical Research Institute of Montréal, University of Montréal, Québec.
Clin Invest Med. 1989 Oct;12(5):285-91.
Plasma concentration of amino-terminal segment of pro-opiomelanocortin (N-POMC) was measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in 144 patients with various forms of lung cancer during pneumonectomy, at different times of the day after being newly diagnosed and serially, throughout their treatment (surgery or chemotherapy) in order to assess its value as a biomarker in this disease. Normal volunteers, coal miners smoking but without known lung diseases, and the patients with diverse pulmonary disorders served as comparison groups. A significant transtumoral gradient of N-POMC was found at surgery in 15 of 57 (26%) patients. Subjects without lung afflictions had significantly lower N-POMC levels than patients with pulmonary diseases (benign or malignant) only when the blood was drawn before breakfast. Furthermore, fasting levels in all subgroups of patients were higher at any time of the day than nonfasting ones. Finally, N-POMC levels did not decrease significantly after successful treatment of lung cancer (by surgery or chemotherapy) but were markedly higher after relapse. These results suggest that N-POMC, despite the fact that it cannot be used to discriminate lung cancer patients from controls, is a biomarker which may predict relapse in patients successfully treated by chemotherapy for their pulmonary neoplasm.
采用放射免疫分析法（RIA）检测了144例不同类型肺癌患者在肺切除术中、新确诊后一天内不同时间以及整个治疗过程（手术或化疗）中的促肾上腺皮质激素原氨基末端片段（N-POMC）的血浆浓度，以评估其作为该疾病生物标志物的价值。正常志愿者、吸烟但无已知肺部疾病的煤矿工人以及患有各种肺部疾病的患者作为对照组。在57例患者中的15例（26%）手术时发现N-POMC存在显著的肿瘤间梯度。只有在早餐前采血时，无肺部疾病的受试者的N-POMC水平才显著低于患有肺部疾病（良性或恶性）的患者。此外，患者所有亚组的空腹水平在一天中的任何时候都高于非空腹水平。最后，肺癌成功治疗（通过手术或化疗）后N-POMC水平没有显著下降，但复发后明显升高。这些结果表明，尽管N-POMC不能用于区分肺癌患者和对照组，但它是一种生物标志物，可能预测接受化疗成功治疗肺部肿瘤的患者的复发情况。
