Diagnostic and prognostic usefulness of N 1 , N 8 -diacetylspermidine and N 1 , N 12 -diacetylspermine in urine as novel markers of malignancy

Abstract

Recently, we found N1,N8-diacetylspermidine (Ac2Spd) and N1,N12-diacetylspermine (Ac2Spm) in human urine, and noted that their amount increased significantly in patients with urogenital malignancies. Previous findings that simultaneous reference to these diacetylpolyamines is useful in distinguishing cancer patients from healthy persons were confirmed by more recent analytical data on urine samples from several cancer patients. Further examination revealed that urinary Ac2Spm and Ac2Spd tended to decrease when cancer patients were treated and entered partial remission. In cases where the Ac2Spm and Ac2Spd levels were normal or near-normal after treatments, the prognosis of the patients was generally good. In contrast, when their level remained far above the normal limits after apparently effective treatment, the prognosis of the patients was poor. When a patient is in remission for more than 3 years, urinary levels of both Ac2Spm and Ac2Spd are stabilized and stay below the normal limits, with rare exceptions. The recurrence of a cancer as well as the complication of a second one during the period of follow-up examination was accompanied by elevation of urinary diacetylpolyamines. These observations indicate that urinary Ac2Spm and Ac2Spd are useful as prognostic indicators after treatment and during follow-up examination of cancer patients.

Urinary Polyamines: A Pilot Study on Their Roles as Prostate Cancer Detection Biomarkers

“…(See Fig 4) [36–38] This hypothesis is also supported by the observation of a significant increase in urinary diacetylspermine content in patients with urogenital malignancies resulted from the enzymatic action of SSAT, as reported by Hiramatsu, et al . [39] Therefore our observation of a decrease in urinary Spm is in line with previous findings and suggested mechanisms. For Spd, we hypothesized the action of SMO and SSAT counteracted each other so no significant changes were found.…”

N 1,N12-Diacetylspermine as a Sensitive and Specific Novel Marker for Early- and Late-Stage Colorectal and Breast Cancers

“…At the same time, we noted that monoacetylpolyamines that constitute a major part of urinary polyamines, including N-acetylputrescine, N 1 -acetylspermidine, and N 8 -acetylspermidine, were much less sensitive as markers for these urogenital malignancies than DiAcSpm and could not be considered practical tumor markers. The part of our observations concerning conventional monoacetylpolyamines was very well in accord with the popular evaluation of urinary polyamines at that time (4), but our results on DiAcSpm analysis were radically different from those on other polyamine derivatives and looked highly promising (2,3).…”

“…Our analysis revealed that DiAcSpm may be useful as a novel diagnostic and prognostic tumor marker in that its excretion in urine is elevated significantly and frequently in patients with urogenital malignancies and tends to recover to the normal level on remission (2,3). At the same time, we noted that monoacetylpolyamines that constitute a major part of urinary polyamines, including N-acetylputrescine, N 1 -acetylspermidine, and N 8 -acetylspermidine, were much less sensitive as markers for these urogenital malignancies than DiAcSpm and could not be considered practical tumor markers.…”

Urinary Polyamines as Biomarkers for Ovarian Cancer

“…13,14 Besides being predictive markers, there is a possibility that DiAcSpm and DiAcSpd could be used also as prognostic markers, at least in testicular or prostatic cancer. 11 Urinary DiAcSpm has been shown to be both diagnostic and prognostic marker also for nonsmall cell lung cancer. 15,16 In the present study, the performance of CA125 used in the preoperative diagnostic work-up of pelvic tumors was poorer than in published large screening studies.…”