Ferritin content in human cancerous and noncancerous colonic tissue.

Tumor tissue samples from 25 patients with adenocarcinoma of the colon, twelve related samples of normal colons as well as five serum specimens from the same patients were analyzed for ferritin. The average ferritin content of the tumor tissue was 788 ng/mcp with a range of 47-1,745 ng/mcp. The average ferritin content of normal colon mucosa was 115 ng/mcp with a range of 32-230 ng/mcp. Two specimens of metastatic colon cancer taken from the retroperitoneal space and liver, respectively, contained 3,867 and 2,827 ng/mcp of ferritin. The ferritin content of the tumor tissue was higher than that of the normal colon in 8 of 9 patients who had specimens obtained from both sites. The amount of ferritin found in tumor tissue was independent of sex, age, and the site of the original tumor. This study shows that the ferritin content of colon neoplasms is elevated and indicates that the tumor tissue may be the direct source of elevated serum levels of ferritin previously observed in cancer patients.

A comparison of methods used to characterize gelation of actin in vitro.

We have compared the meniscus depletion assay and falling ball viscometry, two means of assessing the extent of gelation in actin-based systems using mixtures of actin and the actin-binding protein filamin. We examined the effect of varying the concentrations of actin and filamin in both assays. The interaction of actin and filamin was detected only above a threshold concentration of filamin. This threshold concentration was lower for falling ball viscometry than for the meniscus depletion assay at equal actin concentrations. At constant concentrations of filamin, an increase in actin concentration caused an increase in apparent viscosity measured by the falling ball assay, but a decrease in sedimentability detected by the meniscus depletion assay. The rate of sedimentation of actin was dependent on the molar ratio of actin to filamin. At each molar ratio, the sedimentation of actin was not dependent on the specific concentrations of actin and filamin used. The apparent viscosity was dependent on both the molar ratio and the specific concentrations of actin and filamin. To relate the present results to earlier studies, we examined mixtures of actin and filamin using a macroscopic assay of gelation (tube tipping assay), and polarized light microscopy. The effect of increasing filamin concentration in the four assays was compared at three actin concentrations. Mixtures of actin and filamin whose apparent viscosities were low enough to be estimated by falling ball viscometry were optically isotropic fluids that flowed out of inverted test tubes. Mixtures of actin and filamin in the range of sensitivity of the meniscus depletion assay were either viscous fluids or gels, and were either optically isotropic or anisotropic. Thus, the four assays provide different estimates of gelation. Both the meniscus depletion assay and falling ball viscometry can be used to determine relative gelation activity, but neither can be used as a quantitative assay of gelation.