Recently, it has been demonstrated that glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-(7-37) possesses a potent insulinotropic activity. In this paper, we compared the effects of GLP-1-(1-37) and -(7-37) and glucagon on insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin release from isolated perfused canine and rat pancreases under the perfusate condition of 5.5 mM glucose plus arginine. With canine pancreas perfusion, 1 nM GLP-1-(7-37) was more potent in stimulating insulin and somatostatin release than was the same dose of glucagon [stimulation to 375 +/- 36% vs. 302 +/- 28% of the basal level for insulin (P less than 0.05); 724 +/- 129% vs. 311 +/- 33% of the basal level for somatostatin (P less than 0.01)]. GLP-1-(1-37) (1 nM) did not stimulate either insulin or somatostatin release. GLP-1-(7-37) (1 nM) decreased the glucagon level of the effluent perfusate to 67.2 +/- 3.4% of its basal level; but 1 nM GLP-1-(1-37) did not. Glucagon (1 nM) decreased GLP-1-like immunoreactivity to 64.0 +/- 5.2% of its basal level. With rat pancreatic perfusion, the minimal dose for stimulation of insulin release was 100 nM for GLP-1-(1-37), 0.1 nM for GLP-1-(7-37), and 1 nM for glucagon, respectively. Glucagon release was partially inhibited by 100 nM GLP-1-(1-37) and 1 and 10 nM GLP-1-(7-37). The present results indicate that 1) since GLP-1-(7-37) is released from the intestine, it might be an important incretin candidate along with gastric inhibitory peptide; and 2) the release of proglucagon-derived peptides from pancreatic A-cells is regulated by autofeedback through glucagon and GLP-1.

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Postprandial glycaemic and hormone responses to meals with different nutrient compositions and their heterogeneity were evaluated in 16 non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients and 5 healthy volunteers. Five kinds of nutrient stimulation--75 g glucose, a Japanese mixed meal (400 kcal, carbohydrate 60%, protein 14%, fat 26%), a high protein meal (300 kcal, C 26%, P 64%, F 10%), a high fat meal (300 kcal, C 23%, P 5%, F 72%) and 20 g iv glucose--was given to each subject. On the average, in both normal and diabetic subjects, the increases in plasma glucose (PG) and insulin (IRI) were the largest with the oral glucose load and the smallest with the high protein meal. The ratio of increase in IRI and PG (sigma delta IRI/sigma delta PG) was the highest with the high protein meal and the lowest with the oral glucose load. sigma delta IRI with the high protein meal and the high fat meal were the same in normal and diabetic subjects. However, each of the 16 NIDDM patients and 5 normal volunteers exhibited a different pattern of response to the nutrient stimuli and no definite subgroup could be classified. There was no correlation between metabolic responses and family history of diabetes mellitus, duration of diabetes, body mass index and fasting plasma glucose. The present results suggest the nearly intact capacity of insulin secretion in NIDDM in response to a high protein or high fat meal and the difficulty of subclassification in NIDDM according to the glycaemic and hormone responses to the different nutrient stimuli.

In our previous study, monoclonal antibody RM2, established toward the glycosyl epitope, reflected grade of malignancy of prostate cancer cells whereas RM2 reactivity to benign glands was negative or weak. RM2 reactivity was also detected in stroma, suggesting the glycoprotein RM2 recognizes could be released into the bloodstream. Then, we explored RM2 reactivity to sera of early prostate cancer. We compared RM2 reactivity to sera between 62 patients with early prostate cancer and 43 subjects with benign prostatic disease, and examined RM2 reactivity before and after radical prostatectomy in 15 patients by Western blotting. We also examined RM2 reactivity to sera of the other urogenital cancers. RM2 reactivity was significantly enhanced on a serum glycoprotein with molecular mass ∼40 kDa, hereby termed GPX, in the patients with early prostate cancer when compared with those with benign prostatic disease (p < 0.0001). Setting an appropriate cutoff level, RM2 reactivity to GPX for detection of prostate cancer had sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 84%, respectively. Furthermore, the level of RM2 reactivity significantly decreased after radical prostatectomy (p 5 0.006). However, increased RM2 reactivity to GPX was also observed in the other urogenital cancers. The proteomics approach identified GPX as haptoglobin-b chain and RM2 showed preferential reactivity toward haptoglobin-b chain derived from prostate cancer when compared with polyclonal anti-haptoglobin antibody. Haptoglobin-b chain defined by RM2 is a novel serum marker that may be useful for detection of early prostate cancer when coupled with prostate-specific antigen because it is not specific to prostate cancer.