Gastrin-releasing peptide immunoreactivity in intestinal carcinoids.

Human neuroendocrine tumors are known to demonstrate immunoreactivity to the amphibian peptide bombesin. The recent observation that gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), a 27 amino acid peptide first isolated from porcine intestine, may be the mammalian analog of bombesin led us to look for this peptide in intestinal carcinoid tumors. Formalin-fixed tissues from 20 of these tumors were examined by the immunoperoxidase technic, using specific antisera to the GRP molecule (1-27) and the GRP fragment (1-16). Intense diffuse cytoplasmic immunoreactivity was observed in carcinoids from the small intestine (7/10), appendix (4/5), and colon (1/5). In each positive case, the pattern of staining for GRP (1-16) and GRP (1-27) was identical. These findings indicate that bombesin-like immunoreactivity in human intestinal carcinoid tumors is attributable to GRP-like molecules and that GRP is a useful marker for neuroendocrine differentiation.