Biological markers for breast carcinoma.

During the last decade, there has been an intense search for biological markers for breast carcinoma. Many different types of materials have been found that may be elevated in the body fluids of patients with this disease. However, no markers specific for breast cancer have been discovered and those currently available lack the sensitivity and specificity for early detection of the disease or for determining when the tumor burden is low.

Evaluation of the clinical management of cancer patients. A pilot study.

The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, Baltimore, has carried out a pilot study of a method of data collection and analysis to be used for planning and evaluation of continuing education programs conducted in the Maryland region. This study includes definition of techniques used to prepare a test instrument that will accurately reflect actual medical practice within a hospital. The system has been field tested in three diseases, cancer of the lung, breast, and uterine cervix, in two Maryland hospitals.

Urinary polyamines for evaluating the course of disease for patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung.

Clinical correlates with urinary excretion of polyamines were evaluated for 29 newly diagnosed and 35 previously treated patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung (SCC). The frequencies of pretreatment abnormalities were 12 (41%) for putrescine, 18 (62%) for spermidine, and 20 (69%) for spermine. In assessing disease parameters, the combined use of the abnormalities of spermidine and spermine as a discriminant was more effective than that of all three polyamines; it correlated significantly with extent of limited and extensive disease (P less than 0.

Serum protein-bound carbohydrates and small cell carcinoma of the lung. Correlations with extent of disease, tumor burden, survival, and clinical response categories.

The levels for serum protein bound neutral carbohydrates (fucose, mannose, and galactose) were determined at specific intervals for 40 patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung and compared to the corresponding carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels. In pretreatment samples, the frequency of elevation was 92.5% for fucose and 77.

Tumor markers derived from nucleic acid components.

It was known for some time that cancer patients excrete in their urine elevated levels of modified nucleosides. From earlier work, we were able to show that most of these modified nucleosides originate from transfer RNA (tRNA). The modifications are achieved at the macromolecular level by enzymes after primary synthesis.