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Biomedical subjects

A D Merritt

Publications and source records attributed to A D Merritt.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

An amylase-producing serous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary.

A patient with an amylase-producing serous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary had elevated serum and urine amylase levels and high levels of amylase in pleural and ascitic fluids. Serum and urine amylase levels reflected both surgical removal of tumor mass and response to chemotherapy. Tumor homogenates had pronounced amylase activity. Salivary type amylase isozyme patterns were found in electrophoresis of samples from all sources. Ascites tumor cells were successfully cultured and salivary type amylase was found in the culture media throughout 5 passages. The tumor was classified by light microscopy as poorly differentiated serous cystadenocarcinoma. Ultrastructural studies on the tumor were consistent with that diagnosis. Amylase was detected in the cells of the tumor examined by the immunoperoxidase technique.

Amylases

Urinary pepsinogen isozymes: a highly polymorphic locus in man.

A genetic analysis of human urinary pepsinogen isozymes is presented. Nine discrete phenotypes were identified in a population survey of 215 unrelated Caucasian individuals. The phenotypes were characterized by differences among the staining intensities of the activated group I pepsinogens, Pg 5, Pg 4, Pg 3, and Pg 2. The genetic studies demonstrated that the codominant expression of four alleles, PgA, PgB, PgC and PgD, at a single genetic locus determined the nine phenotypes identified. Linkage analysis excluded close linkage of the Pg locus with the chromosome 6 markers HLA, GLO1, and Bf.

Genetic Linkage

Human salivary proline-rich (Pr) proteins: a posttranslational derivation of the phenotypes.

The acidic proline-rich proteins (Pr) showing genetic polymorphism were purified from human parotid salivas by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography. Molecular weight determinations, amino acid composition analyses, and polypeptide mapping experiments indicate that the Pr 3 protein is a fragment of the Pr 1 protein. Studies of a parotid saliva factor capable of converting Pr 1 to Pr 3 and Pr 2 to Pr 4 indicate that Pr 3 and Pr 4 are generated from Pr 1 and Pr 2, respectively. Evidence suggests that the converting factor is a protease capable of posttranslationally cleaving Pr 1 and Pr 2, the primary or derived products of alleles Pr1 and Pr2.

Amino Acids

Genetic control of the eighth component of complement.

Using isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gel and a hemolytic assay for development of patterns, extensive, structural polymorphism in human C8 has been delineated. Two alleles, C8A and C8B, have been identified in orientals, with gene frequencies of 0.655 and 0.345. In blacks, what appears to be a third common allele was found, so that frequencies were 0.692, 0.259, and 0.049 for C8A, C8B, and C8A1. In whites, C8A1 was rare with a frequency of 0.003, and frequencies for C8A and C8B were 0.649 and 0.349. Inheritance was autosomal codominant in family studies and the distribution of types in random unrelated populations fit the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in all groups. C8 allotypes have been determined for two previously studied families, each with a homozygous C8-deficient propositus. This study suggests that C8 deficiency is a silent or null allele of the C8 structural locus, and that half normal levels of C8 cannot be used as a single criterion for the establishment of heterozygous C8 deficiency. C8 allotypes, as well as 18 other autosomal markers, were also determined for 24 families. The C8 structural locus is not closely linked to these markers, including the human histocompatibility loci complex.

Alleles

Hyperamylasemia in diabetic ketoacidosis: sources and significance.

The origins and clinical significance of hyperamylasemia during diabetic ketoacidosis are unclear. We have therefore correlated important clinical and laboratory indices of diabetic ketoacidosis with sequential determinations of serum and urine amylase concentrations, amylase/creatinine clearance ratios, and specific amylase isozyme types. Hyperamylasemia occurred in 79% of our patients with diabetic ketoacidosis, often after admission to the hospital. Among these patients, 48% had pancreatic-type, 36% salivary-type, and 16% mixed-type (pancreatic and salivary) hyperamylasemia. There were no correlations between the presence, degree, or isozyme type of hyperamylasemia and most laboratory or clinical characteristics, including gastrointestinal symptoms. Patients with pancreatic-type hyperamylasemia tended to have higher amylase/creatinine clearance ratios, but it was not possible to unequivocably diagnose acute pancreatitis during diabetic ketoacidosis with current routine clinical or laboratory procedures.

Adult

Human pancreatic alpha-amylase: phenotypic codominance and new electrophoretic variants.

The genetic heterogeneity of human pancreatic alpha-amylase (alpha-1,4-glucan 4-glucanohydrolase, E.C. 3.2.1.1) has been better defined through the development of an asparagine buffered electrophoretic gel system. Three alleles had been identified for the pancreatic amylase locus, AMY2, with two variant alleles as autosomal dominant traits on Tris HCl buffered sheet gels. The asparagine buffered sheet gel now allows the differentiation of the genotypes AMY2B/AMY2B,AMY2B/AMY2A, and AMY2B/AMY2C, thus classifying these three alleles as codominants. Asparagine buffered polyacrylamide gels and thin layer polyacrylamide isoelectric focusing aided in the identification of three new pancreatic amylase variants: AMY2D,AMY2E, and AMY2F. AMY2E has been identified only in AMY2B and AMY2E individuals. This allele is proposed as a quantitative activity variant with essentially the same electrophoretic mobility as AMY2A. The other new autosomal variants have each been identified in single white families. AMY2D is dominant and AMY2F is a codominant trait as shown on thin layer polyacrylamide isoelectric focusing gels.

Amylases