NESP55, a novel chromogranin-like peptide, is expressed in endocrine tumours of the pancreas and adrenal medulla but not in ileal carcinoids

Neuroendocrine secretory protein 55, NESP55, is an acidic protein belonging to the chromogranin family. The distribution of NESP55 in human tumours is not known. The aim of the present study was to study the expression of NESP55 in human gastrointestinal, pancreatic and adrenal tumours. A total of 118 human endocrine and nonendocrine tumours were examined by immunocytochemistry, and compared to the expression of chromogranin A (CgA) in the same tumours. Pancreatic endocrine tumours (14 out of 25), pheochromocytomas (19 out of 19), and neuroblastomas (seven out of 14) expressed NESP55, with the same strong labelling pattern in both benign and malignant tumours. Expression of NESP55 in pancreatic endocrine tumours and pheochromocytomas was confirmed by Western and Northern blot analysis. Immunocytochemical analysis demonstrated no labelling in ileal carcinoids (zero out of 15), and adrenocortical adenomas (zero out of 15). The majority of gastrointestinal and pancreatic carcinomas were negative for NESP55, with focal staining observed in two out of 30 tumours. In contrast, CgA was present in all neuroendocrine tumours examined (25 out of 25 pancreatic endocrine tumours, 19 out of 19 pheochromocytomas, 14 out of 14 neuroblastomas and 15 out of 15 ileal carcinoids). Thus, the expression of NESP55 in endocrine tumours of the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas and adrenals differs from that of CgA. Neuroendocrine secretory protein 55 is found in a subset of neuroendocrine tumours showing differentiation towards adrenal chromaffin cells and pancreatic islets cells.