Urinary excretion of nonesterified cholesterol (NEC) in men with testicular and prostatic neoplasms has been investigated. Control patients with nonsteroid-related benign and malignant tumors and patients with nonneoplastic diseases were also studied. Normal range of NEC excretion was determined in healthy individuals and was found to be 0.10-1.20 mg/24 hours (3 S.D., 99.5% population), with a mean of 0.65 -C 0.18 mg/24 hours. Twenty-nine of 32 patients with adenocarcinoma of the prostate (91%) had NEC hyperexcretion. I n addition, all patients with choriocarcinoma, teratocarcinoma, and embryonal cell carcinoma of the testis (8 cases) had NEC hyperexcretion. Hyperexcretion of NEC was also present in patients with metastatic carcinoma of testes and prostate in which the primary tumor had been removed. Testicular seminomas (19 cases) on the other hand, revealed a normal urinary excretion of NEC. T h e effects of therapy on NEC excretion were investigated in some of these patients, and their NEC values appeared to correlate with the clinical course of the disease. Approximately 25% of the control patients over 45 years of age without histologically demonstrable testicular and/or prostatic carcinomas revealed NEC hyperexcretion. This hyperexcretion of NEC in the control groups can possibly be explained in part by the presence of "latent" adenocarcinoma of the prostate that was not detected. I t is recognized that at least 30% of necropsies performed in men at this age group will harbor an unsuspected adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Our previous work in this field has shown NEC hyperexcretion in women with carcinomas of the steroid-producing glands and their target organs. This suggests a certain cell specificity. The specificity of the results in both men and women, in respect to type of cells involved, effects of therapy, and lack of correlation of the NEC excretion with the serum levels of cholesterol, supports the concept that most of the urinary cholesterol is of endogenous origin, and appears to represent a n expression of cell biochemical function.
N INVESTIGATION OF THE URINARY EXCRE-
This study concerning the male is an out-A tion of nonesterified cholesterol (NEC) growth of previous work on the urinary excrein the male, with special emphasis on testicu-tion of NEC in normal women and in women lar and prostatic carcinomas, has been under-harboring genital pathologic conditions. An taken.
interesting correlation was demonstrated be-From the Section of Research in Endocrinology and Metabolism and the Divisions of Espcrimental and Clinical Pathology, Wm. H. Singer Memorial Rcsearch Institute, and the Section of Radiation Therapy and the Division of