The age-specific reference intervals for tPSA, fPSA, and %fPSA in healthy Han ethnic male

Predicting surgical efficacy and diagnosing histological inflammation: the clinical significance of prostate exosome proteins in benign prostatic hyperplasia

Background

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common causes of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) among the aging male population. Recent studies have shown that histological inflammation (HI) plays a significant role in BPH, with prostatic exosomal protein (PSEP) identified as a potential biomarker for prostate diseases. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effect of HI on LUTS in patients with BPH, and to further explore the clinical value of PSEP as a diagnostic biomarker of BPH complicated with HI and whether PSEP could be used as an index to predict the improvement of LUTS after operation.

Methods

This study was an open-label, cohort study. The study enrolled all patients who were clinical diagnosed as BPH with LUTS and prepared to receive operation of the prostate at the Department of Urology of the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University. International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) were used to evaluate the LUTS of the BPH. And the enrolled patients were divided into four groups, including none, mild HI, moderate HI, and severe HI, based on postoperative pathological results. Then the relationships between HI and IPSS, the National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI), as well as PSEP were analyzed. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were performed on the preoperative IPSS and the difference of IPSS before and after surgery was examined. SPSS software version 26 was used for statistical analysis and Prism 9.0 was used to make violin plots.

Results

A total of 69 patients were enrolled in the study. The violin plot results indicated IPSS and NIH-CPSI scores exhibited significant increases in correlation with the severity levels of HI (P<0.001; P<0.001). Among BPH patients with total prostate-specific antigen (t-PSA) levels higher than 4.0 ng/mL, a significant correlation was observed between PSEP levels and HI (P=0.04). Besides, simple and multiple linear regression analysis showed that HI (P<0.001) or PSEP (P=0.03) was significantly associated with IPSS and improvement of LUTS, assessed by postoperative and preoperative IPSS differences.

Conclusions

The study indicated that IPSS and PSEP (when t-PSA >4 ng/mL) were correlated with the severity of HI in patients with BPH. PSEP was linearly correlated with IPSS and the degree of reduction in IPSS after surgery. Consequently, PSEP may serve as a promising predictor for assessing surgical efficacy and diagnosing the severity of HI in patients with BPH.

Age-Adjusted Reference Values for Prostate Specific Antigen - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVES

To systematically evaluates the evidence on ethnic differences in age-adjusted reference values of PSA.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In concordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis statement, a review of English articles using Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases, from inception to December 2019 was conducted. Studies that reported the PSA upper reference value as 95th percentile of the cohort distribution, in healthy men aged 40 to 79, were included. Methodological quality was assessed with a modified version of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality checklist for cross-sectional studies.

RESULTS

Forty-three studies examining 325,514 participants were included in the analysis. These were published between 1993 and 2018. Majority were prospective observational studies and reported the reference values in ten-year age intervals. Only five reports directly compared ethnic differences in PSA values. Due to missing data, six studies were not considered in the quantitative synthesis. For the remainder (37/43), heterogeneity in PSA reference values was considerable (Higgin's index = 99.2%), with age and ethnicity being the sole identified significant contributors. Accordingly, the pooled upper limits for PSA reference values were 2.1, 3.2, 4.9 and 6.5 ng/ml for men in their 40 s, 50 s, 60 s, and 70 s, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Moderate quality evidence suggest that upper PSA reference limits increased with age and significant ethnic differences were present.

Establishment of the reference interval for serum pro-gastrin-releasing peptide in healthy adults of Chinese Han ethnicity

Objective:

The aim of this study is to establish the reference interval for serum pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (proGRP) determined by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) in healthy Chinese Han ethnic adults.

Methods:

After screening, 9932 healthy Chinese Han adults (age range 18–95 years) were enrolled in this study, including 6220 men and 3712 women. Serum proGRP levels were measured by ECLIA. The reference interval was defined by non-parametric 95th percentile interval.

Results:

Serum proGRP levels conformed to a non-Gussian distribution. The reference interval for healthy Chinese Han adults calculated by the non-parametric method was 0–73.90 ng/mL in this study. Since serum proGRP levels were significantly correlated with age (r=0.226, P<0.001), the participants were divided into six age groups: 18–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, and ⩾80 years. No significant difference for serum proGRP levels was found between the sexes at each of six age groups. The reference intervals were gradually increased with age (65.35 ng/mL, 68.65 ng/mL, 74.10 ng/mL, 77.65 ng/mL, 84.57 ng/mL, and 98.03 ng/mL in 18–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, and ⩾80 years, respectively).

Conclusions:

We established the reference interval for serum proGRP, which was determined by ECLIA in the healthy Chinese Han population. Furthermore, our study suggests that it is necessary to establish the age-specific reference intervals for serum proGRP.

Serum ARCHITECT PIVKA-II reference interval in healthy Chinese adults: Sub-analysis from a prospective multicenter study

BACKGROUND

Protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) has been widely used as a biomarker for liver cancer diagnosis in Japan for decades. However, the reference intervals for serum ARCHITECT PIVKA-II have not been established in the Chinese population. Thus, this study aimed to measure serum PIVKA-II levels in healthy Chinese subjects.

METHODS

This is a sub-analysis from the prospective, cross-sectional and multicenter study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03047603). A total of 892 healthy participants (777 Han and 115 Uygur) with complete health checkup results were recruited from 7 regional centers in China. Serum PIVKA-II level was measured by ARCHITECT immunoassay. All 95% reference ranges were estimated by nonparametric method.

RESULTS

The distribution of PIVKA-II values showed significant difference with ethnicity and sex, but not age. The 95% reference range of PIVKA-II was 13.62-40.38 mAU/ml in Han Chinese subjects and 15.16-53.74 mAU/ml in Uygur subjects. PIVKA-II level was significantly higher in males than in females (P < 0.001). The 95% reference range of PIVKA-II was 15.39-42.01 mAU/ml in Han males while 11.96-39.13 mAU/ml in Han females.

CONCLUSIONS

The reference interval of serum PIVKA-II on the Architect platform was established in healthy Chinese adults. This will be valuable for future clinical and laboratory studies performed using the Architect analyzer. Different ethnic backgrounds and analytical methods underline the need for redefining the reference interval of analytes such as PIVKA-II, in central laboratories in different countries.

Establishment of reference interval for the tumour marker serum CYFRA 21-1 in healthy Chinese Han ethnic adults

BACKGROUND

Our aim was to establish the reference interval (RI) for serum CYFRA 21-1 in healthy Chinese Han ethnic adults, since there has been no report about it.

METHODS

After screening, 9954 healthy Chinese Han adults (age range 18-95 years) were recruited, including 6639 (66.7%) males and 3315 (33.3%) females. Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay was used to measure serum CYFRA21-1. The RI was defined by nonparametric 95% percentile interval.

RESULTS

The distribution for serum CYFRA21-1 level was non-Gaussian. The RI for healthy Chinese Han adults calculated by nonparametric method was 0-4.47 ng/ml in this study, higher than that recommended by Roche Diagnostics GmbH (≤3.3 ng/ml). The reference values were higher in males than females before 50 years of age, although the difference was hardly seen after 50 years of age. The reference value increased with age in both males and females. Of slight difference, the increase of male reference value was obvious at 60-69 and more than 80 years of age, while that of female obvious at 50-69 and more than 80 years of age.

CONCLUSIONS

We establish the RI for serum CYFRA21-1 in healthy Chinese Han population, which is higher than that recommended by Roche Diagnostics GmbH. Furthermore, our study suggests that it is necessary to establish the age- and sex-specific RIs for serum CYFRA21-1.