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Clinical Chemistry 47: 346-348, 2001;
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(Clinical Chemistry. 2001;47:346-348.)
© 2001 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Articles

An Unusual Form of Big, Big (Macro) Prolactin in a Pregnant Patient

Michael J. Diver1,a, David L. Ewins2, Richard C. Worth2, Shirley Bowles2, James A. Ahlquist3 and Michael N. Fahie-Wilson3

1 Department of Clinical Chemistry, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Prescot Street, Liverpool L7 8XP, United Kingdom

2 Countess of Chester Hospital, Liverpool Road, Chester, United Kingdom

3 Southend Hospital, Westcliffe-on-Sea, Essex SS0 0RY, United Kingdom
a author for correspondence: fax 44-151-706-5813, e-mail mjdiver@liv.ac.uk.


   Introduction
 
It is well recognized that circulating prolactin may exist in several forms, including little (monomeric), big, and big, big (macroprolactin) prolactin with molecular masses of 23, 50, and 150–170 kDa, respectively (1).

We report the case of a 30-year-old woman who initially attended her primary care physician because of the onset of painful irregular periods. Her cycle usually was regular, but she had had an 8-week interval of amenorrhea, followed by a particularly painful bleed for which she sought medical advice. Before this, and subsequently, her menstruation had been completely regular with a 28-day cycle. She had no other problems.

The patient’s initial serum prolactin was recorded as 15 800 mIU/L (~530 µg/L) in a Bayer Immuno 1TM assay (Bayer Corporation). Other investigations at the time were entirely normal.

When the subject was monitored 2 months later, she was symptomless and menstruating regularly; her serum prolactin, using the same assay as before, was 8440 mIU/L (~270 µg/L). Pituitary imaging by magnetic resonance was normal. She had, of choice, never been pregnant.

Because of the patient’s lack of symptoms, normal pituitary imaging, and regular cycles, further analytical investigations were carried out on a sample of her serum. After polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation, the recovery of prolactin was low, indicating the presence of macroprolactin (2), and 15% of her total prolactin was estimated to be monomeric prolactin.

The . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   References
 



The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:


Home page
 Clin. Chem.Home page
C. Hekim, H. Alfthan, J. T. Leinonen, and U.-H. Stenman
Effect of Incubation Time on Recognition of Various Forms of Prolactin in Serum by the DELFIA Assay
Clin. Chem., December 1, 2002; 48(12): 2253 - 2256.
[Full Text] [PDF]


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