Prostate cancer-associated markers.

Immunodiagnosis of prostate cancer is at a more advanced stage than that of most other tumors. Two well-known markers, prostatic acid phosphatase and prostate-specific antigen, have been used in the clinical management of patients. Prostate-specific antigen is a more sensitive and reliable marker than prostatic acid phosphatase. Serum prostate-specific antigen is effective in monitoring disease status, predicting recurrence, and detecting residual disease. Prostate-specific antigen is a tool for the histological differential diagnosis of metastatic carcinomas, especially in the identification of metastatic prostate tumor cells in distant organs and in the differentiation of primary prostate carcinoma from poorly differentiated transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. Few data on biological function are available. Prostatic acid phosphatase functions as a phosphotyrosyl-protein phosphatase and prostate-specific antigen as a protease. Physiological function in the prostate remains to be elucidated. Several of the prostate-specific and prostate-tumor-associated antigens, as well as a putative prostate tumor-specific antigen, as recognized by monoclonal antibodies are available. Clinical evaluation of these potential markers is not yet available.