Polyamine levels in CSF from patients with pituitary tumors or nonneoplastic pituitary disease

Red blood cell polyamines as a diagnostic indicator of glioma presence and recurrence

Red blood cell (RBC) polyamines, spermine and spermidine have been assayed from 103 patients with confirmed intracranial tumours and 87 controls. For spermine the test had a specificity of 97% and a sensitivity of 30% in preoperative patients, increasing to 40% in glioma patients. Tumour recurrence in postoperative patients gave a sensitivity of 48% increasing to 60% in glioma groups. For initial tumour presentation, therefore, this test is suggestive, though not unequivocal, of tumour presence. Its major role probably lies in monitoring the progress of the patient and its major importance in the detection of tumour recurrence.

Determination of polyamines and metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid by isotope dilution mass fragmentography, and a clinical application

Capillary gas chromatography and mass fragmentography was used to determine simultaneously 1,3-diaminopropane, putrescine, cadaverine, spermidine, spermine, isoputreanine and putreanine in cerebrospinal fluid. After addition of deuterium labelled analogs and acid hydrolysis, the compounds were isolated by adsorption onto silica and converted into their N-heptafluorobutyryl-methylesters. Quality control data and an application of the method are given. A patient harbouring an astrocytoma was monitored during chemotherapeutic treatment.

Evaluation of polyamine levels in cerebrospinal fluid of children with brain tumors

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) polyamine levels were analyzed retrospectively in 21 pediatric patients with different types of intracranial malignant tumors to determine the benefit of following these markers during the clinical management of brain tumors. The tumors included 16 medulloblastomas and 1 each of germinoma, ependymoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumor, astrocytoma, and malignant teratoma. The clinical course of each patient was followed by neurologic examination, cranial computed tomography, CSF cell count, and cytology after cytocentrifugation. The correlation of CSF putrescine and spermidine levels with the clinical course of the brain tumors was analyzed. The following results were obtained: (1) A significant increase in CSF putrescine levels was observed in children with medulloblastoma when there was recurrent or metastatic disease in the sites close to the CSF pathway compared with the children whose disease status was stable after successful treatment (P less than 0.005). (2) The increase of CSF putrescine levels was the earliest predictor of recurrence or metastasis near the CSF pathway. (3) In tumors other than medulloblastoma, the levels of polyamines were not predictive of disease activity with the possible exception of germinoma. (4) Spermidine levels in the CSF were of limited clinical importance for patients with brain tumors. CSF putrescine levels may be the earliest and most sensitive quantitative marker of the progression of medulloblastoma, and their evaluation should be included in the diagnostic work-up and follow-up examination of children with medulloblastoma.

Cerebrospinal fluid polyamines: biochemical markers of malignant childhood brain tumors

The clinical value of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) polyamine determinations in childhood medulloblastoma has been suggested. We performed 72 CSF polyamine determinations in 35 children with primary brain tumors. Spermine values were normal and spermidine values were inconsistently elevated. CSF putrescine values, however, were consistently elevated in patients with histologically malignant brain tumors: medulloblastoma, ependymoma, pineal germ cell tumors, primitive neuroectodermal tumors, and brainstem gliomas. Children with supratentorial astrocytomas had normal CSF polyamine values. CSF putrescine values were closely correlated with clinical state, with the highest concentrations identified in patients with widely disseminated recurrent disease. We found CSF putrescine to be a sensitive indicator of active disease in childhood malignant brain tumors. Further investigation is warranted into the predictive value of CSF polyamines in determining tumor relapse before clinical or other diagnostic studies reveal recurrent disease.

Polyamines in human brain tumors. A correlative study between tumor, cerebrospinal fluid and red blood cell free polyamine levels

Polyamine levels have been studied in brain tumor patients. We focused our study on the relationship between tumor, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and red blood cell (RBC) polyamine levels. Our results are the following: Polyamine levels in CSF are consistently increased, whatever the histological type may be. The highest tumoral concentrations are found in medulloblastoma. In glioblastomas, the RBC spermidine levels are higher than in the other types of tumors and there is a highly significant correlation between the spermidine/spermine ratio in tumor and RBC. Therefore, RBC polyamine determination might be of clinical interest in the monitoring of patients with glioblastomas.