Arylsulfatase A activity of urine in patients with various genitourinary tract disorders

Chemical tools to monitor bladder cancer progression

BackgroundBladder cancer (BCa) is the most common cancer of the urinary system. Due to its high incidence and recurrence, as well as limited progress in the effective treatment, BCa is a challenge for today's medicine.Materials and MethodsWe used a set of chromogenic substrates to differentiate between the stages of bladder cancer progression (G1 (n = 10), G2 (n = 10), G3 (n = 10)). The proteolytic activity in individual the urine samples was determined by absorbance measurements. Then inhibitors of particular classes of enzymes were used to determine which enzymes dominate at a given stage of the neoplastic disease.ResultsThe specific activity of enzymes in the urine of patients with confirmed bladder cancer was determined separately for three (G1, G2, G3) stages of the disease development. What is more, no activity was observed in urine of healthy people (n = 10).DiscussionResearch shows that specific enzymes are associated with the development of specific stages of cancer. We suspect that the differences in the proteolytic activity of urine samples are due to the presence of a different set of enzymes, that are directly related to the particular stage of the disease.ConclusionWe obtained three substrates for monitoring individual stages of bladder cancer development.

Arylsulfatase A in serum from patients with cancer of various organs

Arylsulfatase A was radioimmunoassayed in serum specimens of 96 healthy volunteers and 368 patients with histopathologically confirmed cancer of gastrointestinal tract, breast, lung, central nervous system, kidney and woman genital tract. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of the test were 43%, 82% and 90%, respectively, which means that a positive test is significant for diagnosis of cancer regardless of its localization. More detailed statistical analysis of the results indicates that determination of the serum concentration of arylsulfatase A might be helpful in the diagnosis of lung (59% sensitivity, 82% specificity) and central nervous system cancer (60% sensitivity, 82% specificity). Further studies should also be continued in respect to renal and women genital tract cancers for which the results of the test, although promising, are at present not conclusive due to the small numbers of examined cases. Particularly, determination of serum arylsulfatase A in case of endometrial cancer seems to be of diagnostic value. Arylsulfatase A concentration in serum with a lower than 40% sensitivity of the test cannot be considered as a valuable tumor indicator in the case of cancer of breast and gastrointestinal tract, although 80% predictive value of the test for the latter group of tumors is quite high and perhaps merits additional consideration.

Arylsulfatase A in urine of patients with urothelial tumors

A significant increase in urine arylsulfatase A activity (p less than 0.01) was found in patients with urothelial tumors. Arylsulfatase A activity was 1.36 +/- 1.10 U/24-h urine in control specimens, 1.90 +/- 1.66 U/24-h urine in various genitourinary tract disorders, and 3.90 +/- 1.98 U/24-h urine in transitional cell carcinoma specimens. Surgical treatment of the neoplastic patients lowered the arylsulfatase A activity found in urine to within reference values. The arylsulfatase A excreted by patients with these tumors was highly sensitive to thermal inactivation while the enzyme activity in the control urines was less affected by the heat treatment. The time course of the arylsulfatase A reaction with 4-nitrocatechol sulfate was not linear in normal individuals, while it was linear in 90% of patients with urothelial tumors. This difference in the kinetic pattern of the enzyme could be used to increase the diagnostic specificity of the determination.