Nucleoside excretion in breast cancer: comparison with other biochemical tumour-index-substances.

[We have measured four urinary nucleosides (dimethylguanosine, 1-methylinosine, pseudouridine and beta-aminoisobutyric acid)in patients with benign breast disease and patients with early and advanced breast cancer in order to assess their value as tumour-index-substances. We compared the results with other biochemical indices of breast cancer and sought and correlations between these indices. The results indicate that few abnormalities occurred in patients without overt metastases and these did not predict early relapse. In those with metastatic disease, dimethylguanosine excretion was most frequently elevated. Correlations were observed between some of the nucleosides and lysozyme and alpha1-antirypsin.