Urinary nonesterified cholesterol excretion in adenocarcinoma of the prostate

✍ Scribed by John A. Belis; Richard J. Cenedella

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 504 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(197905)43:5<1840::aid-cncr2820430537>3.0.co;2-8

✦ Synopsis

The present investigation attempted to determine the value of urinary nonesterified cholesterol (UNEC) as an early biochemical test for adenocarcinoma of the prostate. UNEC levels were determined in patients with each stage of adenocarcinoma of the prostate prior to any diagnostic manipulation or therapy, and were compared to UNEC levels in men of similar age without clinical evidence of adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Results were correlated with patient levels of serum and bone marrow acid phosphatase. Fifty-three percent of all patients with untreated adenocarcinoma of the prostrate had significantly elevated UNEC levels as compared to 10% elevated levels in the control group without adenocarcinoma of the prostate. In particular 54% of patients with either stage I or stage I1 adenocarcinoma of the prostate demonstrated elevated UNEC levels while serum acid phosphatase levels were normal in all stage I and stage I1 patients. Two patients with seminoma and one patient with renal cell carcinoma also demonstrated elevated UNEC levels supporting previous reports that UNEC may be elevated in a number of malignancies. UNEC elevations appeared to be independent of clinical stage or tumor grade and may be related to localized biochemical activity of certain tumor cells. The statistically significant number of UNEC elevations in all stages of adenocarcinoma of the prostate suggested that this determination may ultimately be of value as an additional test for the detection of this malignancy.