Placental Leucine Aminopeptidase as a Potential Specific Urine Biomarker for Invasive Ovarian Cancer.
J Clin Med 2021;
11:jcm11010222. [PMID:
35011963 PMCID:
PMC8746293 DOI:
10.3390/jcm11010222]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2021] [Revised: 12/28/2021] [Accepted: 12/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
A non-invasive and sensitive biomarker for the detection of ovarian cancer (OvCa) is lacking. We aim to investigate if urinary placental leucine aminopeptidase (P-LAP) can serve as a reliable biomarker for OvCa.
METHODS
P-LAP activity was measured using a LAP assay kit (Serotech Co., Ltd., Sapporo, Japan) in the urine of 22 patients with benign or borderline malignant ovarian tumors and 18 patients with OvCa. In this assay, L-methionine was added at 20 mM because P-LAP is functional, but other aminopeptidases are inhibited at this dose of L-methionine.
RESULTS
The mean urinary P-LAP activity was significantly higher in the OvCa group than in the benign or borderline malignant tumor group. When the cut-off value of P-LAP was determined as 11.00 U/L, its sensitivity and specificity for differentiating invasive cancer were 77.8% and 95.5%, respectively.
CONCLUSION
Although the usefulness of this test should be confirmed in a larger cohort of cases and controls, our study is the first to highlight the importance of urinary P-LAP as a biomarker for OvCa.
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