A parathyroid hormone-related protein implicated in malignant hypercalcemia: cloning and expression.

L J Suva, G A Winslow, R E Wettenhall, R G Hammonds, J M Moseley, H Diefenbach-Jagger, C P Rodda, B E Kemp, H Rodriguez, E Y Chen

Index: Science 237 , 893, (1987)

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Abstract

Humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy is a common complication of lung and certain other cancers. The hypercalcemia results from the actions of tumor factors on bone and kidney. We report here the isolation of full-length complementary DNA clones of a putative hypercalcemia factor, and the expression from the cloned DNA of the active protein in mammalian cells. The clones encode a prepro peptide of 36 amino acids and a mature protein of 141 amino acids that has significant homology with parathyroid hormone in the amino-terminal region. This previously unrecognized hormone may be important in normal as well as abnormal calcium metabolism.