Biodistribution of a radiolabelled monoclonal antibody NY3D11 recognizing the neural cell adhesion molecule in tumour xenografts and patients with small-cell lung cancer

CD56 Reactivity in Small Cell Carcinoma of the Uterine Cervix

Small cell carcinoma (SCC) of the uterine cervix, like its pulmonary counterpart, is a rare but distinctive neoplasm that should be separated from nonendocrine carcinomas because of its highly aggressive clinical course and response to chemotherapy and irradiation. CD56 (neural cell adhesion molecule) has recently been shown to be the best marker for the diagnosis of pulmonary SCC. In this study, we assessed the sensitivity and specificity of CD56 in the diagnosis of SCC of the uterine cervix compared with those of chromogranin and synaptophysin. Twenty-two (88%) of 25 SCCs of the uterine cervix labeled with CD56 in a predominantly membranous and diffuse pattern, whereas 16 of 25 (64%) stained with synaptophysin in a predominantly diffuse pattern and 8 of 25 (32%) showed predominantly focal immunoreactivity for chromogranin. In contrast, 3 of 21 (14%) moderately to poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas and 1 of 16 (6%) moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas showed focal immunoreactivity for CD56. Although not specific, CD56 seems to be the most sensitive marker for the diagnosis of SCC of the uterine cervix. Moreover, its diffuse reactivity reduces the possibility of obtaining negative results in small biopsy samples.

Inhibition of proliferation of human small cell lung cancer cells expressing an autocrine system for gastrin releasing peptide by antisense oligodeoxynucleotides to gastrin releasing peptide receptor

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of antisense (AS) oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) directed against gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) receptor mRNA on proliferation of human small cell lung cancer (SCLC) NCI-H345 cells which express the autocrine system for GRP. The methods used were to expose human SCLC cell lines to antisense ODNs or sense ODNs and to measure their proliferation by spectrophotometric assay or viable cell counts. Our results demonstrated that the single or combined AS ODNs against GRP receptor inhibited proliferation of human SCLC NCI-H345 cells significantly by 37% (P<0.01), but did not inhibit proliferation of either human bronchial epithelial BEAS 2B cells or human SCLC NCI-N417 cells, neither of which express the GRP autocrine system. The sense controls did not significantly inhibit proliferation compared with no treatment controls. Specificity was also demonstrated by the observation that cells exposed to AS ODNs had a decrease in GRP receptor expression as measured by specific binding of 34% (P<0.01), and when all three AS ODNs were used, binding was decreased by 60% (P<0.03). Furthermore, AS ODNs decreased by 75% the maximum percentage of cells responding to GRP in an intracellular calcium release assay. Our conclusions are that antisense ODNs directed against a GRP receptor which is involved in an autocrine loop in human SCLC cells inhibited proliferation of these cells by their impact on reducing GRP receptor expression. Further development of means of increasing AS ODN specificity and effectiveness in human SCLC cell is warranted.