Demonstration and characterization of immunoreactive methionine-enkephalin, leucine-enkephalin, methionine-enkephalin-Arg6-Gly7-Leu8 and methionine-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 in human phaeochromocytoma.

To elucidate whether or not human phaeochromocytoma contains methionine-enkephalin-Arg6-Gly7-Leu8 (Met-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu) and methionine-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 (Met-enkephalin-Arg-Phe) together with methionine-enkephalin (Met-enkephalin) and leucine-enkephalin (Leu-enkephalin), all of which are known to exist in the same precursor molecule (preproenkephalin A), we examined extracts from 16 phaeochromocytomas using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gel exclusion chromatography coupled with radioimmunoassays (RIAs) for these four opioid peptides. Met-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu-like immunoreactivity (-LI) and Met-enkephalin-Arg-Phe-LI existed together with Met-enkephalin-LI and Leu-enkephalin-LI in 16 phaeochromocytomas. There was a wide variation in contents of Met-enkephalin-LI, Leu-enkephalin-LI, Met-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu-LI and Met-enkephalin-Arg-Phe-LI. Significant positive correlations were observed among the contents of these four opioid peptides in 16 phaeochromocytomas. HPLC and gel exclusion chromatography followed by the RIAs showed the presence of Met-enkephalin, Leu-enkephalin, Met-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu and Met-enkephalin-Arg-Phe together with their high molecular weight forms, which existed in variable amounts. Molar ratios of the contents of these four opioid peptides determined after HPLC varies from case to case. These results indicate the co-existence of Met-enkephalin, Leu-enkephalin, Met-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu and Met-enkephalin-Arg-Phe in human phaeochromocytomas, suggesting the preservation of amino acid sequences of these four opioid peptides even in neoplastic tissues.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)