Insulin-Like Growth Factor II in Human Adrenal Pheochromocytomas and Wilms Tumors: Expression at the mRNA and Protein Level

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1987-02, Vol.84 (4), p.1104-1106
• Main Authors: Haselbacher, G. K., J.-C. Irminger, Zapf, J., Ziegler, W. H., Humbel, R. E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adrenal Gland Neoplasms - metabolism; Adrenal medulla; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Humans; Insulin-Like Growth Factor II - genetics; Insulin-Like Growth Factor II - metabolism; Kidney Neoplasms - metabolism; Kidneys; Liver; Messenger RNA; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Pheochromocytoma; Pheochromocytoma - metabolism; Proteins - metabolism; RNA; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Somatomedins; Somatomedins - metabolism; Tumors; Wilms Tumor - metabolism; Wilms tumors
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.84.4.1104

Two forms of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) II with molecular masses of 10 and 7.5 kDa, respectively, were found in tumor tissue from human adrenal pheochromocytomas. The tumors contained 5.3-7.1 μ g of immunoreactive IGF-II per g of tissue, which is about 20 times more than in adrenal medulla. The total bioactive IGF in the pheochromocytomas exceeded that in normal liver or kidney, which contained only the 7.5-kDa IGF-II species, by a factor of ≈ 100. By contrast, the amount of IGF-I was just measurable and did not vary significantly between tumor and normal tissue. The high amounts of IGF-II in the pheochromocytomas were not reflected, however, by a corresponding increase of mRNA. The opposite situation was found in Wilms tumors, where IGF-II content was in the same range as in nontumor tissues despite increased expression of IGF-II mRNA.