Procalcitonin and CGRP-I mRNA expression in various human tissues

Procalcitonin (PCT) is a highly sensitive and specific marker of systemic b acterial infection and sepsis. In contrast to Its diagnostic significance, the cellular sources of plasma procalcitonin remain to be clarified. Two fo rms of PCT mRNAs originate from calcitonin/calcitonin gene-related peptide gene (CALC-I gene) along with mRNA for calcitonin gene-related peptide-I (C GRP-I). Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction with newly designed primers detecting different PCT mRNAs and CGRP-I mRNA was used to identify tissues that might contribute to PCT production. Our study indicates that a variety of human tissues (13 of the 16 analyzed overall) express PCT-I, P CT-II, and/or CGRP-l mRNAs, with the highest levels detected for liver, tes tis, lung, prostate, kidney, and small intestine. Various tissues differ in the proportions of PCT-I, PCT-II, and CGRP-I mRNA expression levels. Thus we demonstrate the complexity of tissue-specific regulation of CALC-I gene expression and suppose a variety of tissues as a potential source of CALC-I -encoded peptides.