Metanephrines in plasma
Cells derived form neuroendocrine tumors (e.g. pheochromcytoma) are known to produce catecholamines which are secreted episodically via vesicles into the blood stream. But beside this a small portion of the catecholamines is metabolized inside the cells to the corresponding catecholamines metabolites – namely metanephrine, normetanephrine and 3-methoxytyramine – which are secreted at low levels continuously into the blood stream. Recent studies and publications have shown that the quantification of these plasma free metanephrine (fMN) and plasma free normetanephrine (fNMN) is the most accurate biochemical marker for the clinical diagnosis of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma in patients. Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma are rare neuroendocrine tumors and occur with an estimated annual incidence of 1 – 8 cases per 1,000,000.
The assay allows the simultaneous determination of metanephrine and normetanephrine in plasma from just 200 μl.
For the determination of plasma metanephrines LDN offers competitive ELISA kits for the simultaneous determination of metanephrine and normetanephrine as well as for single parameter determination in just 200 µl of plasma. An advanced 96 well based extraction procedure is part of the assay procedure and ensures high specificity and excellent correlation to LC-MS/MS.
