Krizkova Sona, Masarik Michal, Majzlik Petr, Kukacka Jiri, Kruseova Jarmila, Adam Vojtech, Prusa Richard, Eckschlager Tomas, Stiborova Marie, Kizek Rene
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic.
Acta Biochim Pol. 2010;57(4):561-6. Epub 2010 Nov 9.
Tumour markers are substances produced by malignant cells or by the organism as a response to cancer development. Determination of their levels can, therefore, be used to monitor the risk, presence and prognosis of a cancer disease or to monitor the therapeutic response or early detection of residual disease. Time-consuming imaging methods, examination of cerebrospinal fluid or tumour tissue and assays for hormones and tumour markers have been used for cancer diagnosis. However, no specific marker for diagnosis of childhood solid tumours has been discovered yet. In this study, metallothionein (MT) was evaluated as a prospective marker for such diseases. Serum metallothionein levels of patients with childhood solid tumours were determined using differential pulse voltammetry - Brdicka reaction. A more than 5-fold increase in the amount of metallothionein was found in sera of patients suffering from cancer disease, compared with those in sera of healthy donors. The average metallothionein level in the sera of healthy volunteers was 0.5 ± 0.2 μmol · dm⁻³ and was significantly different (p<0.05, determined using the Schefe test) from the average MT level found in serum samples of patients suffering from childhood solid tumours (3.4 ± 0.8 μmol · dm⁻³). Results found in this work indicate that the MT level in blood serum can be considered as a promising marker for diagnostics, prognosis and estimation of therapy efficiency of childhood tumours.
肿瘤标志物是由恶性细胞产生或机体对癌症发展作出反应而产生的物质。因此，测定其水平可用于监测癌症疾病的风险、存在情况和预后，或监测治疗反应或残余疾病的早期检测。耗时的成像方法、脑脊液或肿瘤组织检查以及激素和肿瘤标志物检测已用于癌症诊断。然而，尚未发现用于诊断儿童实体瘤的特异性标志物。在本研究中，金属硫蛋白（MT）被评估为这类疾病的一种潜在标志物。采用差分脉冲伏安法 - 布尔迪卡反应测定儿童实体瘤患者的血清金属硫蛋白水平。与健康供体血清相比，癌症患者血清中金属硫蛋白的含量增加了5倍以上。健康志愿者血清中金属硫蛋白的平均水平为0.5±0.2μmol·dm⁻³，与儿童实体瘤患者血清样本中发现的平均MT水平（3.4±0.8μmol·dm⁻³）有显著差异（p<0.05，采用谢费检验确定）。这项工作的结果表明，血清中的MT水平可被视为儿童肿瘤诊断、预后评估和治疗效果评估的一个有前景的标志物。
