vasoactive-intestinal-peptide and Neoplasms--Nerve-Tissue

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Bronchodilator Agents; Cyclic AMP; Cystic Fibrosis; Female; Gastrointestinal Motility; Hormones; Hormones, Ectopic; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders; Muscle Relaxation; Muscle, Smooth; Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue; Nervous System; Neurotransmitter Agents; Pancreatic Neoplasms; Paraneoplastic Endocrine Syndromes; Receptors, Cell Surface; Receptors, Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide; Vasodilation; Vasodilator Agents

Topics: Bombesin; Brain Neoplasms; Child; Gastrin-Releasing Peptide; Humans; Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue; Neuroectodermal Tumors; Neuropeptide Y; Neuropeptides; Neurotensin; Radioimmunoassay; Somatostatin; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide

Immunohistochemical studies have demonstrated that immunoreactive vasoactive intestinal peptide is present in, and restricted to, the differentiating and mature ganglion cells in a variety of normal and neoplastic neural tissues. In a composite pheochromocytoma-ganglioneuroma (associated with the syndrome of watery diarrhea, hypokalemia, and hypochlorhydria), five ganglioneuroblastomas, five ganglioneuromas (two of which were associated with diarrheal syndromes), an unusual mixed neuroblastoma-ganglioneuroma, and four normal sympathetic ganglia, vasoactive intestinal peptide was present in differentiating and mature ganglion cells. The peptide was also demonstrated in isolated ganglion cells in two pheochromocytomas but was not present in pheochromocytes, Schwann cells, or undifferentiated neuroblastic cells in the neuroblastomas and ganglioneuroblastomas. These studies indicate that the presence and presumably the production of vasoactive intestinal peptide thus reflect a particular line of neuroblastic differentiation and are not merely a reflection of common derivation of these tissues. Our identification of vasoactive intestinal peptide in neurogenic tumors associated with diarrhea supports the contention that the peptide might be an important diarrheogenic factor in these tumors.

Topics: Adrenal Gland Neoplasms; Cell Differentiation; Ganglia, Autonomic; Ganglioneuroma; Gastrointestinal Hormones; Humans; Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue; Neuroblastoma; Pheochromocytoma; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide