Carcinoid syndrome historical perspective

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Parminder Dhingra, M.D. [2]

Overview

The term Carcinoid was given by Siegfried Oberndorfer, a German pathologist at the University of Munich in 1907. Enterochromaffin cell, the cell of origin of carcinoid tumour had been identified as early as 1897 by N. Kulchitsky.

Theodor Langhans (1839–1915) was the first to describe the histology of a carcinoid tumor in 1867.
The term Carcinoid was given by Siegfried Oberndorfer, a German pathologist at the University of Munich in 1907.
Siegfried Oberndorfer referred the carcinoid tumor as “benign carcinomas” as they had distinct clinical entities and named them “karzinoide”(carcinoma-like).
Karzinoide or “carcinoma-like” describes the unique feature of behaving like a benign tumor despite resembling a carcinoma microscopically.
Rapport and colleagues isolated and named serotonin (5-HT), initially identified as a vasoconstrictor substance in the serum.^[1]
Enterochromaffin cell,the cell of origin of carcinoid tumour had been identified as early as 1897 by N. Kulchitsky (1856-1925).
In 1953, F. Lembeck established that enterochromaffin cells synthesizes and secretes serotonin, the major hormone responsible for carcinoid syndrome.^[2]^[3]

↑ RAPPORT MM, GREEN AA, PAGE IH (December 1948). “Serum vasoconstrictor, serotonin; isolation and characterization”. J. Biol. Chem. 176 (3): 1243–51. PMID 18100415.
↑ ERSPAMER V, ASERO B (May 1952). “Identification of enteramine, the specific hormone of the enterochromaffin cell system, as 5-hydroxytryptamine”. Nature. 169 (4306): 800–1. PMID 14941051.
↑ Sippel RS, Chen H (July 2006). “Carcinoid tumors”. Surg. Oncol. Clin. N. Am. 15 (3): 463–78. doi:10.1016/j.soc.2006.05.002. PMID 16882492.