A
metastasis to the right liver lobe of an argyrophil/argentaffin midgut
carcinoid tumour in a patient with the classical
carcinoid syndrome was examined for the presence of
tachykinins other than
substance P, using a specific antiserum. The extract was initially purified using SepPak cartridges, and subsequently subjected to
cation-exchange chromatography on SP
Sephadex C-25 which separated the immunoreactive material into two main components (components I and II). Both were further purified by
anion-exchange chromatography on
DEAE-Sephadex A-25, and by reverse-phase fast
protein liquid chromatography. Component II was identified as
neurokinin A by its immunochemical and chromatographic properties and amino acid sequence analysis. Component I consisted of two molecular forms which were identified as neurokinin A(3-10) and
neurokinin A(4-10) by amino acid sequence analysis. The tumour tissue contained only small amounts of the
eledoisin-like
peptide that has earlier been demonstrated in mammalian tissues. Although this component behaved like the nonmammalian
peptide eledoisin on reverse-phase HPLC and on reverse-phase ion-pair chromatography,
eledoisin-specific antiserum E2 indicated that
eledoisin-like
peptide is not identical to
eledoisin.
Neurokinin A in
carcinoid tumours has an N-terminal heterogeneity; this multiplicity constitutes a further support for the hypothesis that
carcinoid tumours produce a number of
tachykinins which may be present in different relative amounts in individual patients and may contribute to the individual differences in symptomatology.