Secretory protein 7B2. A novel tumor marker of medullary carcinoma of the thyroid

Mean plasma concentrations of 7B2 in three patients with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid (MCT) (294 +/- 38 pg/ml) were significantly higher than those in age-matched normal subjects (107.2 +/- 7.2 pg/ml, n = 11). The intravenous infusions of pentagastrin (0.5 microgram/kg) markedly increased the plasma concentrations of 7B2 as well as calcitonin in all three MCT patients but it caused no significant rise of the plasma 7B2 concentration in any healthy subjects. The peak times and rates of increase of plasma 7B2 concentrations were different from those of plasma calcitonin concentrations in MCT patients. The plasma 7B2 concentration in one of the patients with MCT showed a marked reduction and no further elevation from the pentagastrin infusion following a total thyroidectomy (preop. 226 pg/ml; postop. 112.1 pg/ml). The above evidence suggests that the increased levels of plasma 7B2 in MCT patients may be attributed to the release from parafollicular cells of thyroid. Therefore, 7B2 is considered to be clinically useful as a tumor marker of MCT.