URINARY DIACETYLSPERMINE AS AN INDICATOR OF CONDITION OF PATIENTS WITH MALIGNANT DISEASES

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Diacetyispermine (DiAcSpm) is a minor polyamine component in the human urine. Its excretion is low in amount in healthy persons, but is frequently and markedly increased in cancer patients. In this study we measured DiAcSpm and other tumor markers in colorectal and breast cancer patients. The positive rates of DiAcSpm (normal range: 0-0.25μmole/g creatinine) and serum CEA (normal range: 0-5ng/ml) with 248 preoperative colorectal cancer patients were 76.5 and 40%, respectively. The positive rates of both DiAcSpm and CEA tended to increase with the progression of cancer staging. DiAcSpm was particularly sensitive for earlier stage colorectal cancer in that the positive rates for stage 0 and stage I cancer were 62 and 60%, respectively. The positive rates of CEA for these early stage cancers were only 10%. Urinary DiAcSpm level tended to remain low even in tumor-bearing individuals when their cancerous lesions remained static, while rose rapidly concomitant with recurrence. DiAcSpm may serve as a prognostic indicator and marker for recurrence of colorectal cancer. As to 83 breast cancer patients, the positive rates of urinary DiAcSpm, serum CEA and serum CA15-3 (normal range: 23U/ml) were 60%, 37% and 37%, respectively, the positive rate of DiAcSpm being significantly high as compared to CLA and CA15-3. DiAcSpm was also more sensitive in detecting stage I and II breast cancers than CEA and CA15-3. DiAcSpm may serve as a general tumor marker, since active proliferation of any cancer tissue would likely be accompanied by activation of polyamine metabolism. Moreover, examination of the urine is non-invasive to human body. In view of these characteristic features, DiAcSpm may be useful as a measure for screening cancer patients.