Peptide Hormone Production by Small Cell Lung Carcinomas (2)	

This relation was clearly described when tissue concentrations of seventeen peptide hormones were examined in fifty tissue extracts of small-cell lung carcinomas, obtained at surgery or autopsy. In this study, peptide hormones that were detected at a concentration of 10pmol or more per gram wet weight were considered to be producers; this criterion is very strict and probably underestimates the actual detection frequency. According to this criterion, the frequency of production of one of the seventeen peptides in small-cell lung carcinoma tissues was as high as eighty-four per cent, and that of two hormones or more was fifty per cent. This indicates that peptide hormone production is a very common phenomenon in small-cell lung carcinoma, as is multiple hormone production (Fig. 21.4).