Reliability analysis of first and second generation PSA assays.

Purpose: To assess the reliability of first and second generation PSA assays.

Materials And Methods: In the present investigation we sought to compare pretreatment serum PSA levels determined by a first (IMx) and a second (IMMULITE) generation PSA assays to determine whether there were differences. Sera from 545 men were investigated in the range > 0 - 5330 microg/L, and prostatic histology was known, based on either transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), guided systematic needle biopsies, or transurethral resection or prostatectomy.

Clinical implications of free-to-total immunoreactive prostate-specific antigen ratios.

Objective: A study was performed to evaluate the free-to-total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ratio for discriminating benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or prostate cancer in the intermediate PSA range (2.0-10.0 microg/l) in patients referred for prostate evaluation.

Importance of a new tumor marker TRA-1-60 in the follow-up of patients with clinical stage I nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors.

Background: TRA-1-60 is a new tumor marker for embryonal carcinoma-positive nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors (NSTGCT). Upper normal reference value (RV) and serum half-life (t1/2) were determined. The value was determined in the follow-up of 154 patients with stage I NSTGCT.

Increased urinary levels of Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein suggest a systemic etiology of interstitial cystitis.

Purpose: We investigated the role of Tamm-Horsfall protein in interstitial cystitis.

Materials And Methods: Urinary Tamm-Horsfall protein excretion was analyzed in interstitial cystitis patients and controls, and bladder biopsy specimens were stained immunohistochemically for Tamm-Horsfall protein.

Results: Urinary Tamm-Horsfall protein levels in 28 women with interstitial cystitis were statistically significantly greater than those in 25 female controls.

Increased urinary IgG/albumin index in normoalbuminuric insulin-dependent diabetic patients: a laboratory artefact.

The previous observation that urinary IgG excretion is increased in normoalbuminuric insulin-dependent (IDDM) patients is unexplained and could possibly be related to a laboratory phenomenon. When untreated urine samples were stored -20 degrees C for 2 to 4 weeks, the IgG/albumin Index (IgG clearance divided by albumin clearance) was higher in normoalbuminuric IDDM patients than in control subjects (0.91 (0.

Detection of recurrence in patients with clinical stage I nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors and consequences for further follow-up: a single-center 10-year experience.

Purpose: A wait-and-see policy for patients with stage I nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors (NSTGCT) was evaluated in a prospective study. The frequency and time of recurrence, detection of recurrence, and presence of unfavorable prognostic factors were investigated.

Patients And Methods: During the period 1982 to 1992, 154 patients with stage I NSTGCT (median age, 29 years) underwent orchidectomy and were monitored at follow-up evaluation with physical examinations, alfafetoprotein (AFP) and beta-human choriogonadotropin (hCG) levels, chest x-rays (CXR), and computed tomographic (CT) scans of the abdomen and chest.

Anti-sulphatide antibodies in peripheral neuropathy.

A study was carried out on 135 patients with chronic idiopathic neuropathy (63), neuropathy associated with monoclonal gammopathy (51, including eight with anti-MAG antibody activity) and the Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (21). Serum IgM, IgG and IgA anti-sulphatide antibody titres were compared with titres in 304 patients with other neurological or immunological diseases and in 50 normal subjects. Titres were presented a) as the highest serum dilution at which reactivity could be detected, and b) in the linear region of the optical density curve.

Cancer-associated antigen CA 195 in patients with mucinous ovarian tumours: a comparative analysis with CEA, TATI and CA 125 in serum specimens and cyst fluids.

The CA 195 levels in ovarian cyst fluids from malignant mucinous tumours (median 2,300,000 U/ml) were significantly higher than the levels in benign mucinous tumours and malignant non-mucinous tumours (medians of 26,800 and 1,700 U/ml, respectively, p = 0.039 and 0.011).

Tissue polypeptide-specific antigen: a discriminative parameter between prostate cancer and benign prostatic hypertrophy.

The serum concentration of the cell proliferation marker TPS (tissue polypeptide-specific antigen) was compared with the tumour marker PSA (prostate specific antigen). PSA was found elevated in 50% of the benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) patients, in 88% of the patients with active prostate cancer and in 40% of the patients who were in an inactive phase. For TPS these values were 6, 34 and 0%, respectively.

Serum lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 1 activity in patients with testicular germ cell tumors correlates with the total number of copies of the short arm of chromosome 12 in the tumor.

The aim of our study was to assess the relationship between the serum lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 1 (S-LDH-1) activity in patients with testicular germ cell tumors and the number of copies of the short arm of chromosome 12 (12p) present in tumor. Twenty-seven adult patients with measurable tumor lesions were studied. Twenty-five had three or more copies of chromosome 12 per cell in the tumors.

Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels and fetal outcome in early second-trimester oligohydramnios.

Early second-trimester oligohydramnios was associated with normal maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP) levels in nine out of 26 cases (35 per cent). Congenital malformations of the fetal urinary tract resulting in fetal anuria were present in nine cases; in seven of them, normal MSAFP levels were measured. In contrast, normal MSAFP levels were established in only 2 out of the 17 cases without fetal malformations.

Complement activation and the production of inflammatory mediators during the treatment of severe sepsis in humans.

Sepsis or septic shock is frequently associated with activation of the complement system, coagulation and fibrinolytic changes and the release of several cytokines. In this study we analyzed the relation of complement activation to the inflammatory mediators, hemodynamic and biochemical parameters and severity of illness and outcome in 20 consecutive patients with clinically defined sepsis. Levels of C3a and C3d were elevated in 90% of the patients (median levels 0.

Anti-GM1 antibodies in patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Anti-GM1 antibodies were measured in 22 patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and compared with anti-GM1 antibody activity in patients with other neurological or immunological diseases and in normal subjects. Four out of 22 patients with GBS had raised IgM, IgG, or IgA anti-GM1 antibody activities. All four patients were tetraparetic with only minimal or no sensory deficit.

Origin of raised maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels in second-trimester oligohydramnios.

Concanavalin A (Con A) subtyping of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) revealed higher concentrations of AFP non-reactive with Con A in sera of 12 pregnant women with second-trimester oligohydramnios and raised total serum AFP levels than in sera of 42 pregnant women with raised total serum AFP levels and a normal amniotic fluid volume. This suggests that in oligohydramnios the origin of excess AFP in the maternal compartment is amniotic fluid. It is proposed that oligohydramnios and the associated raised maternal serum AFP levels are caused by damage of the fetal membranes prior to 16 weeks of gestation resulting in leakage of amniotic fluid to the decidual tissue and resorption in the maternal circulation.

TRA-1-60: a new serum marker in patients with germ-cell tumors.

TRA-1-60 is a monoclonal antibody (MAb) that recognizes a mucin-like antigenic determinant expressed on the surface of embryonal carcinoma (EC) progenitor cells. In order to determine whether this antigen is released into the serum of patients with a non-seminomatous germ-cell tumor (NSGCT), we developed a sensitive 2-step immunoenzymometric assay. Of 42 EC-positive NSGCT patients tested, 32 (76%) were found to release TRA-1-60-reactive antigen into their serum, in contrast to 1 positive finding in 10 EC-negative NSGCT patients.

Aggressive chemotherapy for acute leukaemia frequently causes intestinal protein leakage.

Cytostatic drugs are known to produce disturbances in intestinal absorption of carbohydrates. To further explore the gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity of cytostatic therapy, 37 patients with acute leukemia were investigated during and/or after remission induction courses by the use of the differential sugar absorption test (DSAT) and the intestinal clearance of alpha-1-antitrypsin (ClAAT). The ratio of the lactulose to the mannitol excretion in the urine was found abnormal in 44% of the tests.

Alpha-fetoprotein-lectin binding as a marker of tumour activity or liver damage.

To establish whether alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) produced in the early post-treatment phase of a patient with a germ cell tumour of the testis or the ovary originates from the tumour or is due to an underlying disturbance in liver function, the binding of AFP to concanavalin A (Con A) was investigated as a discriminative variable. A two-step assay is described that can distinguish the type of AFP produced at levels as low as 10 ng/ml. A Con A-binding ratio of 12-43% was found in the patients with disseminated germ cell tumours and in patients with AFP-positive gastrointestinal carcinomas.

Complement activation during an active cytomegalovirus infection after renal transplantation: due to circulating immune complexes or alternative pathway activation?

In 32 patients with a renal allograft, serial determinations after transplantation were made of C3d, the stable conversion product of the complement factor C3, as well as serial measurements of the anaphylatoxin C3a des arg. Furthermore, serial determinations were made on the presence of circulating immune complexes using three different assays (C1q binding assay, polyethylene glycol precipitation test, and indirect granulocyte phagocytosis test). Twenty patients were studied during an active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, and 12 patients were studied during allograft rejection or during stable phase after renal transplantation.

Results of adjuvant surgery in patients with stage III and IV nonseminomatous testicular tumors after cisplatin-vinblastine-bleomycin chemotherapy.

From January 1978 to April 1983, 53 patients were treated with cisplatin-vinblastine-bleomycin chemotherapy because of advanced nonseminomatous testicular tumor (NSTT). After the chemotherapy, the serum tumor markers were back to normal in 41 patients, of whom 35 were eligible for surgical removal of the residual tumor. In four patients, vital tumor tissue was found in the residual tumor.

Double cryoprecipitated factor VIII concentrate from heparinised plasma and its heat treatment.

In an attempt to implement the small pool concept in Factor VIII purification, cryoprecipitate derived from heparinised plasma was reprecipitated in the cold providing a factor VIII concentrate for freeze drying and heat treatment. There was considerable purification; only 1% of the original plasma proteins was left in the final product. Factor VIII:C concentration was about 19 IU/ml.

Quantitation of IgM, IgA and IgG rheumatoid factors by ELISA in rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatic disorders.

We describe the evaluation of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent-assay (ELISA) for the measurement of IgM, IgA and IgG rheumatoid factor (RF). Results were obtained from sera of normal controls and patients with different rheumatic disorders in a cross-sectional study. Both human and rabbit IgG could be used as antigen in the assays.

Orchidectomy alone in stage I nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors.

Fifty-four patients with Stage I nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors (NSTGCT) were treated from 1982 to 1984. In 1982 and 1983, the orchidectomy was followed by an exploratory laparotomy to conclude the dissemination study. In 1984, laparotomy was performed only if indicated.