RESUMEN
Elevated serum calcitonin (SC) levels have been observed in cirrhotic patients although the biological activity of this hormone in such patients is not known. Twenty one patients diagnosed histologically of alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis (AC) and 12 healthy controls were studied evaluating the degree of hepatocellular failure by means of clinical and biological criteria. Serum calcitonin was determined by means of a radioimmuno assay (RIA) and a radioimmunometric assay (IRMA) in which by combining two monoclonal antibodies, mature calcitonin is determined. These levels almost correspond to levels of biologically active calcitonin. The results obtained show a significant increase in SC in patients with AC when compared to controls, both by RIA (280 +/- 197 pg/ml, p less than 0.001) and IRMA (18 +/- 6 pg/ml, p less than 0.01). Control values were 57 +/- 23 pg/ml and 12 +/- 7 pg/ml respectively. Mean SC values in cirrhotic patients obtained by RIA were 4.9 times greater than their controls while the increase in SC in cirrhotics determined by IRMA was 1.5 times the control, thus obtaining a significant direct correlation between SC and severity of hepatic failure. According to our results, the elevated SC found in cirrhotics is mainly due to immature or non active forms directly related with the degree of severity of the hepatic failure and probably to high Molecular Weight molecules. The slight increase in mature SC in this type of patients is probably due to hormonal mechanism of bone regulation, defendants of hepatic osteodystrophy.
