Asano T, Nakajima F, Odajima K, Tsuji A, Hayakawa M, Nakamura H
Department of Urology, National Defense Medical College.
Nihon Hinyokika Gakkai Zasshi. 1997 Jan;88(1):53-8. doi: 10.5980/jpnjurol1989.88.53.
Neopterin is released from macrophages upon stimulation with gamma-interferon, secreted by activated T cell. Therefore it has been recognized as a useful indicator of the activation of the T cell-macrophage system. Increased neopterin levels are observed in patients with acute graft rejections, viral infections, auto-immune diseases and several malignancies. Urinary neopterin concentrations were determined in patients with genitourinary tract malignancies to evaluate the usefulness of neopterin as a tumor marker.
Urinary neopterin concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography in 90 patients with genitourinary tract malignancies and 28 patients with benign urological tumors and 34 healthy subjects.
Increased urinary neopterin levels were observed in 52% of the patients with genitourinary tract malignancies and 7% with benign urological tumors. The positivity rate in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), renal pelvic and ureteral tumor, bladder tumor (BT), prostatic carcinoma (PC) and testicular tumor was 68%, 80%, 47% and 30%, respectively. The difference in the urinary neopterin levels between low and high stages was highly significant (p < 0.0005) in patients with RCC (stage I-II vs. stage III-IV) and BT (T1S-1 VS. T2-4). The urinary neopterin levels were also correlated with the tumor grade in patients with RCC and PC.
Our study suggests that urinary neopterin levels may supplement laboratory examinations for patients with genitourinary tract malignancies, providing useful information in evaluating the tumor stage and follow-up of the disease.
新蝶呤在γ干扰素刺激下从巨噬细胞释放，γ干扰素由活化的T细胞分泌。因此，它被认为是T细胞-巨噬细胞系统活化的有用指标。在急性移植排斥、病毒感染、自身免疫性疾病和几种恶性肿瘤患者中观察到新蝶呤水平升高。测定了泌尿生殖道恶性肿瘤患者的尿新蝶呤浓度，以评估新蝶呤作为肿瘤标志物的实用性。
采用高效液相色谱法测定了90例泌尿生殖道恶性肿瘤患者、28例良性泌尿系统肿瘤患者和34例健康受试者的尿新蝶呤浓度。
52%的泌尿生殖道恶性肿瘤患者和7%的良性泌尿系统肿瘤患者尿新蝶呤水平升高。肾细胞癌（RCC）、肾盂输尿管肿瘤、膀胱肿瘤（BT）、前列腺癌（PC）和睾丸肿瘤患者的阳性率分别为68%、80%、47%和30%。RCC患者（I-II期与III-IV期）和BT患者（T1S-1期与T2-4期）低分期和高分期之间尿新蝶呤水平差异具有高度显著性（p<0.0005）。RCC和PC患者的尿新蝶呤水平也与肿瘤分级相关。
我们的研究表明，尿新蝶呤水平可能对泌尿生殖道恶性肿瘤患者的实验室检查起到补充作用，为评估肿瘤分期和疾病随访提供有用信息。
