Premium
Prostate specific antigen activation peptide (PSAap) is detectable in breast cell line media
Author(s) -
Voeghtly Laura,
Enghild Jan,
Latimer Jean,
Oury Tim
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.898.11
Subject(s) - prostate specific antigen , prostate , prostate cancer , breast cancer , medicine , cancer , antigen , urine , cancer research , biomarker , chemistry , immunology , biochemistry
Breast cancer (BrCa) is the most common cancer in women and currently has no universally accepted biomarker for its detection. It has been shown that prostate specific antigen (PSA) is not prostate specific and is secreted in more than 30% of breast tumors. The function of PSA in breast tissue has not been established, but has been shown to be indicative of neoplastic state. We have shown that PSA, a proenzyme, is activated extracellularly allowing its activation peptide (PSAap) to be detected in biological samples. Activated PSA reacts rapidly with protease inhibitors including α 1 ‐antichymotrypsin and α 2 ‐macroglobulin in the blood. These complexes are removed from the circulatory system by hepatocyte‐mediated endocytosis. Previous data from our lab show that this rapid clearance can interfere with serum detection of PSA. Significantly, we have shown that PSAap is cleared through simple renal filtration and detectable in the urine. To determine if PSAap is detectable in biological samples taken from BrCa patients, we first show that PSAap is found in the media of breast tumor lines when stimulated with hormones. These results are similar to our previous studies with prostate cancer (CaP) cell lines which indicate the ability to detect PSAap in the urine of CaP patients. If an increase in PSA production correlates with malignancy we propose that detection of PSAap in urine of BrCa patients may be a useful diagnostic tool.