Endocrine Abstracts

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the most common cause of the ectopic ACTH syndrome and is characterised by rapid growth and poor prognosis. In the ectopic ACTH syndrome, tumours secrete highly elevated levels of the ACTH precursor, proopiomelanocortin (POMC), compared to ACTH itself (Oliver 2003). This study aimed to develop a mouse model of SCLC capable of secreting high levels of POMC and correlate this with viable tumour mass to assess POMC as a potential biomarker.<p ...

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is distinguished by its neuroendocrine phenotype and secretion of hormone biomarkers. Tumours initially respond well to therapy but almost invariably relapse with a therapy-resistant phenotype. We have previously described pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) as a potential biomarker of SCLC. In this study, we investigated how POMC acts as a biomarker of tumour response to treatment.SCLC cells (DMS 79) were injected subcutaneously in...