Near-infrared confocal laser scanning microscopy of bladder tissue in vivo.

Objectives: To assess the potential of a near-infrared confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) for imaging bladder tissue in vivo.

Methods: Confocal images of the exposed bladder of male Sprague-Dawley rats were obtained with a CLSM. To minimize tissue motion, the bladder was placed in light contact under an objective lens housing, and the top surface was lightly flattened with a coverslip.

Rapid detection of elevated prostate-specific antigen levels in blood: performance of various membrane strip tests compared.

Objectives: To compare the ability of four commercially available membrane strip tests to detect increased (4 microg/L or more) concentrations of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in blood.

Methods: Serum samples with PSA concentrations less than 4 microg/L (n = 67) and from greater than 4 microg/L to 20 microg/L (n = 32) were independently examined by two observers using the PSA membrane strip tests from Chembio, Medpro, Seratec, and Syntron. The positive and negative results of each membrane strip test were classified as either true positive or negative and false negative or positive by comparing them with the quantitative PSA assay of Immulite DPC using the conventional threshold value of 4 microg/L.

[Metalloproteinases (MMP-1, MMP-3) and their inhibitors (TIMP) in blood plasma of patients with prostate carcinoma].

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMP) are involved in important processes of tumor invasion and metastasis. In the study presented, matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP1) and 3 (MMP3), the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP1) and the complex MMP1/TIMP1 were measured by ELISA tests specific for these proteins in blood plasma. These components have been investigated in prostate cancer patients (PCa) with metastases (n = 18; T2, 3, 4 pN1, 2M1), prostate cancer patients without metastases (n = 29; T2, 3 pNOMO), patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH; n = 29) and in healthy men (n = 35).

The percentage of free prostate specific antigen is an age-independent tumour marker for prostate cancer: establishment of reference ranges in a large population of healthy men.

Objective: To define the reference range for the ratio of free to total prostate-specific antigen (fPSA%) in a population of healthy men with no clinically evident prostate cancer and to assess the influence of age on this tumour marker, thus determining the utility of fPSA% in enhancing the discriminatory power of PSA to differentiate healthy men and patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia from those with prostate cancer.

Subjects And Methods: In a prospective cohort study between May and August 1996, 1160 white men aged 20-89 years (957 were 40-69 years old, 82% of all subjects) from nine European and eight non-European countries were assessed. None of the participants who had a history of prostate cancer had undergone prostatectomy.

Ratio of free-to-total prostate specific antigen in serum cannot distinguish patients with prostate cancer from those with chronic inflammation of the prostate.

Purpose: We demonstrate the effect of chronic inflammation of the prostate on the ratio of free-to-total prostate specific antigen (PSA) in serum calculated as a percentage of free PSA and, therefore, that percentage of free PSA is an unspecific means to distinguish among prostate cancer, chronic prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Materials And Methods: Total, free and percentage of free PSA was measured in 66 men with prostate cancer, 119 with BPH and 17 with asymptomatic chronic prostatitis. In all patients the diagnosis was histopathologically confirmed by microscopic examination of prostatic specimens after sextant biopsy, transurethral prostatic resection or prostatectomy.

Relation of free PSA/total PSA in serum for differentiating between patients with prostatic cancer and benign hyperplasia of the prostate: which cutoff should be used?

A review on literature data is given concerning free prostate-specific antigen (f-PSA) and the corresponding cutoffs of f-PSA/t-PSA for differentiating patients with cancer of the prostate from those with benign prostatic hyperplasia. The special importance of the diagnostic criterion (sensitivity, specificity, efficiency) for establishing the cutoff is demonstrated. On the basis of our own data, the application of the f-PSA% is recommended as an additional decision criterion for biopsy.

Quantification of matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase in prostatic tissue: analytical aspects.

Background: The balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP) has been seen as important during tumor invasion and progression. The determination of these components needs a special strategy of tissue preparation. This analytical problem has not been considered for prostatic tissue.

Factors influencing the ratio of free to total prostate-specific antigen in serum.

The ratio of free prostate-specific antigen (f-PSA) to total PSA (t-PSA) in serum, calculated as percent free PSA (f-PSA%), is lower in patients with prostate carcinoma (PCa) than in patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). This parameter facilitates discrimination between the 2 groups of patients, but there is an overlapping of data. A better understanding of factors influencing this ratio is of practical importance.

Analytical aspects regarding the measurement of metalloproteinases and their inhibitors in blood.

Objective: Both in vitro and in vivo investigations have shown that the balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP) seems to be important in physiological and pathological processes which involve tissue remodeling and repair.

Design And Methods: In order to investigate the analytical reliability of new commercial ELISA tests. BIOTRAK test kits (Amersham Int.

Elimination of serum free and total prostate-specific antigen after radical retropubic prostatectomy.

Elimination kinetics of serum total and free prostate-specific antigen were studied for a ten days course after radical retropubic prostatectomy on 11 patients suffering from organ confined prostate cancer. Samples were taken before operation, immediately after finishing the operation and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 h after prostatectomy and then once a day for the following ten days. The measurements were performed with AxSym assays from Abbott Laboratories.

Soluble CD44 variants in the serum of patients with urological malignancies.

In patients with malignant diseases, characteristic alterations in the expression of CD44 protein and their variants were found. For the present study, the serum concentrations of the standard isoform CD44 std and the two variant isoforms CD44 v5 amd CD44 v6 were measured by ELISA in patients with prostate cancer (n = 49), benign prostatic hyperplasia (n = 30), renal cell carcinoma (n = 31) and bladder cancer (n = 29). The data were compared with the results of 30 healthy men and 30 healthy women.

Matrix metalloproteinases 1 and 3, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 and the complex of metalloproteinase-1/tissue inhibitor in plasma of patients with prostate cancer.

We analyzed blood plasma concentrations of matrix metalloproteinase-1 and -3 (MMP-1; MMP-3), the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) and the complex MMP-1/TIMP-1, and looked for any correlation with prostate cancer stage. These components were measured by ELISA tests specific for these proteins in healthy male controls (n = 35), and in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH; n = 29), with prostate cancer (PCa) without metastasis (T2,3pN0M0; n = 29) and with PCa with metastatic disease (T2,3,4pN1,2M1; n = 18). Mean values of MMP-1 and of the complex MMP-1/TIMP-1 were not different among the 4 groups studied.

Increased analytical sensitivity of RT-PCR of PSA mRNA decreases diagnostic specificity of detection of prostatic cells in blood.

The diagnostic specificity of the detection of disseminated prostatic cells by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of PSA mRNA was investigated. A sensitive nested PCR was developed. In blood samples from 10 healthy female and 10 healthy male persons examined by RT-PCR, mRNA of PSA was detected 3 times in each group.

Antioxidant enzymes in malignant prostate cell lines and in primary cultured prostatic cells.

The antioxidant enzymes catalase, glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined in the androgen-response LNCaP and androgen-nonresponsive PC-3 and DU 145 cells as well as in prostatic epithelial cell cultures of benign and malignant human prostatic tissue. There were no differences between the enzyme activities of the human primary cell cultures from cancerous tissue and their normal counterparts. The enzyme activities of the three permanent cell lines were either higher (SOD, catalase, GR) or lower (GST, GPx) than in the primary cell cultures.

The influence of prostate volume on the ratio of free to total prostate specific antigen in serum of patients with prostate carcinoma and benign prostate hyperplasia.

Background: Determining the ratio of free to total prostate specific antigen (f-PSA to t-PSA, calculated as the percentage of f-PSA [f-PSA%]) in serum allow for a clearer distinction between patients with prostate carcinoma (PCa) and patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) than determining the level of t-PSA alone. To find influencing factors on f-PSA%, the authors investigated prostate volume, TNM classification, and tumor stage.

Methods: The authors measured f-PSA and t-PSA in 36 men with untreated PCa (tumor classification: T1, 2, 3pNO, MO), 44 patients with BPH, and 54 healthy controls.