A metabonomic approach identifies human urinary phenylacetylglutamine as a novel marker of interstitial cystitis.

An ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) based metabonomic approach was applied to identify a candidate metabolite with not known to be associated with interstitial cystitis (IC). IC is a chronic clinical syndrome associated with urinary frequency and urgency and/or pelvic pain. The ability to non-invasively diagnose the early stage of IC would be important for improving the patient's quality of life.

Different histological types of non-small cell lung cancer have distinct folate and DNA methylation levels.

Aberrant DNA methylation is a commonly observed epigenetic change in lung cancer. Folate has been suggested to play a role in the homeostasis of DNA methylation and has also been implicated in cancer chemotherapy. We investigated a possible role for folate in DNA methylation by measuring folate concentrations in tumors and adjacent normal tissues from 72 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Molecular determinants of folate levels after leucovorin administration in colorectal cancer.

Purpose: Oral leucovorin (LV) is used with uracil/tegafur (UFT) in the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). In order to find the factors related to the efficacy of LV in enhancing the antitumour effect of UFT, we investigated the relationships between the reduced folate levels in the CRC tissue after LV administration and the gene-expression levels of folate-metabolizing enzymes and folate transporters.

Methods: The subjects were 60 CRC patients, scheduled to undergo surgery.

Thymidylate synthase, dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase mRNA and protein expression levels in solid tumors in large scale population analysis.

It has been reported that the expression of thymidylate synthase (TS), dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) and orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRT) may predict the clinical efficacy of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based therapy in cancer patients. We investigated the differences in the mRNA and protein expression of these enzymes in various tumor tissues. A total of 17,613 specimens of head and neck, gastric, colorectal, breast, lung and pancreatic cancer were collected from multiple facilities in Japan, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of the above enzymes were examined in 4,830 and 12,783 of these specimens, respectively.

Pharmacokinetics of gamma-hydroxybutylic acid (GHB) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), the anti-angiogenic metabolites of oral fluoropyrimidine UFT, in patients with gastric cancer.

Gamma-hydroxybutylic acid (GHB) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), the metabolites of UFT, which is an oral fluoropyrimidine, have been reported to inhibit angiogenesis with IC50 values of 25.8 ng/ml. The pharmacokinetics of GHB and GBL were examined after the administration of UFT in patients with gastric cancer.

Validation of a simple gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method for the determination of gamma-butyrolactone in human plasma.

A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method is described for the determination of human plasma levels of gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) is described. The method is sensitive and simple. The plasma sample spiked with the internal standard was extracted by dichloromethane (CH(2)Cl(2)) in acidic conditions, and the concentrated organic layer was injected into GC-MS.