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N¹,N¹²-Diacetylspermine as a Sensitive and Specific Novel Marker for Early- and Late-Stage Colorectal and Breast Cancers

Authors' Affiliations: ¹ Medical Research and Development Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, ² Department of Surgery, ³ Clinical Laboratory, ⁴ Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, ⁵ Department of Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Bokutou Hospital, and ⁶ Department of Applied Chemistry, Kogakuin University

Requests for reprints: Masao Kawakita, Department of Applied Chemistry, Kogakuin University, 1-24-2 Nishi-shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-8677, Japan. Phone: 81-3-33402731; Fax: 81-3-33400147; E-mail: bt13004{at}ns.kogakuin.ac.jp.

Purpose: N¹,N¹²-diacetylspermine (DiAcSpm) in the urine of colorectal and breast cancer patients was examined to establish its usefulness as a novel diagnostic tool for detecting these cancers at clinically early stages.

Experimental Design: Urine samples from 248 colon cancer patients and 83 breast cancer patients as well as 51 patients with benign gastrointestinal diseases treated in Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital during the period of August 1999 to January 2004 were collected. DiAcSpm was analyzed by ELISA and its sensitivity for malignant conditions was compared with that of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA19-9, and CA15-3.

Results: The sensitivity of urinary DiAcSpm for colon cancer patients (n = 248) was 75.8% (mean ± 2 SD for 52 healthy controls as a cutoff value), which was markedly higher than the sensitivities of serum CEA (39.5%, P < 0.0001) and CA19-9 (14.1%, P < 0.0001). DiAcSpm was elevated in 60% of tumor-node-metastasis cancer stage 0 + I patients, whereas only 10% (P < 0.0001) and 5% (P < 0.0001) of these patients were CEA- and CA19-9–positive, respectively. The sensitivity of urinary DiAcSpm for 83 cases of breast cancer (60.2%) was higher than the sensitivities of CEA (37.3%, P = 0.0032) and CA15-3 (37.3%, P = 0.0032). DiAcSpm was elevated in 28% of tumor-node-metastasis stage I + II patients, whereas only 3% (P = 0.0064) and 0% (P = 0.001) of these patients were CEA- and CA15-3–positive, respectively.

Conclusion: The observations indicate that urinary DiAcSpm is a more sensitive marker than CEA, CA19-9, and CA15-3 and that it can efficiently detect colorectal and breast cancers at early stages.

Key Words: Gastrointestinal cancers: colorectal • Breast cancer • Tumor markers and detection of metastasis • CLINICAL RESEARCH

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