Asbestos Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Asbestos, including details on mesothelioma, lung disease, dangers, effects, risks.

MESOMARK kit detects C-ERC/mesothelin, but not SMRP with C-terminus.

Segawa T, Hagiwara Y, Ishikawa K, Aoki N, Maeda M, Shiomi K, Hino O

Immuno-Biological Laboratories Co. Ltd., 5-1 Aramachi, Takasaki, Gunma 370-0831, Japan.

ERC/mesothelin is expressed on the normal mesothelium and some cancers such as mesothelioma or ovarian carcinoma. A splicing isoform of ERC/mesothelin (known as SMRP), which has an 82-bp insertion and codes for a C-terminus with a hydrophilic, presumably soluble, tail instead of a GPI-anchoring signal, has been reported as a useful marker for the diagnosis of mesothelioma. However, the existence of SMRP has not yet been demonstrated in the serum of mesothelioma patients. To elucidate the existence of SMRP, we have established a new enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system for SMRP. The ELISA study revealed that N- and C-ERC/mesothelin were detected in sera from mesothelioma patients, but not SMRP, even in these samples. This result showed that the SMRP detected with MESOMARK kit should be lack of soluble C-terminus and indistinguishable from C-ERC/mesothelin. Further study might be necessary to demonstrate the relationship between SMRP and mesothelin.

Published 31 March 2008 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 369(3): 915-8.
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