Evolution of red blood cell polyamine levels in partially hepatectomized rat

Analysis of polyamines as markers of (patho)physiological conditions

The aliphatic polyamines, putrescine, spermidine and spermine, are normal cell constituents that play important roles in cell proliferation and differentiation. The equilibrium between cellular uptake and release and the balanced activities of biosynthetic and catabolic enzymes of polyamines are essential for normal homeostasis in the proliferation and functions of cells and tissues. However, the intracellular polyamine content increases in hyperplastic or neoplastic growth. Although the involvement of polyamines in physiological and pathological cell proliferation and differentiation has been well established, the role they play is quite different in relation to cell systems and animal models and is dependent on inducer agents and stimuli. Also, the experimental procedures used to deplete polyamines have been shown to influence the cell responses. In this paper, the assay methods currently in use for polyamines are reviewed and compared with respect to sensitivity, reproducibility and applicability to routine analysis. The relevance of polyamine metabolism and the uptake/release process in many physiological and pathological processes is highlighted, and the cellular polyamine pathways are discussed in relation to the possible diagnostic and therapeutic significance of these mediators.

Pretherapeutic erythrocyte polyamine spermine levels discriminate high risk relapsing patients with M1 prostate carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Androgen deprivation is currently the standard treatment for patients with metastatic prostate carcinoma. Few reliable prognostic markers are able to select, at diagnosis, patients who will respond favorably and durably to hormone ablation. Circulating polyamines, markers of cell proliferation that are elevated in prostate carcinoma, have been evaluated as a prognostic tool.

METHODS

Eighty-eight patients with untreated, M1 classified prostate carcinoma who received endocrine therapy between 1988 and 1993 were included in this study. Performance status, hemoglobin, alkaline phosphatases, prostate specific antigen, Gleason tumor grade, extent of disease by bone scan, and circulating erythrocyte spermidine and spermine were correlated with observed progression free and cause-specific survivals. Multiple correspondence analysis and ascending hierarchical classification were performed to determine significant pretreatment prognostic factors.

RESULTS

Pretreatment performance status, alkaline phosphatase, hemoglobin, and erythrocyte spermine levels were correlated with progression, with hemoglobin and erythrocyte spermine level being the most significant independent variables (P < 0.00001 and P < 0.0001, respectively). With regard to cause specific survival, only hemoglobin and spermine erythrocyte levels were significant independent variables (P < 0.0001 and P < 0.0005, respectively). Patients with spermine levels of less than 9 nmol/8.10(9) had a statistically better outcome than patients with 9 nmol/8.10(9) or more erythrocytes. Erythrocyte spermine was the best sole determinant of progression. A test combining spermine with performance status or hemoglobin improved each variable's predictive values.

CONCLUSIONS

Circulating erythrocyte spermine levels, extracted from a blood sample, can discriminate, at diagnosis, patients with hormone-refractory from those with hormone-responsive metastatic prostate carcinoma.

Blood polyamines in the rat

The physiological concentrations of polyamines in plasma, serum and red blood cells were determined in male Wistar rats, using HPLC with fluorometric detection. The analysis of the metabolic ratio between polyamines and the frontal cortex/plasma relationship for putrescine, spermidine and spermine, suggest the existence of common mechanisms in the regulation of spermidine in blood and brain.

Standardization in the determination of red blood cell polyamines by high-performance liquid chromatography

The choice of the standardization method in the high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of dansyl polyamines (spermidine and spermine) in red blood cell extracts is discussed. 1,6-Hexanediamine, commonly used as an internal standard, is unsuitable for the quantification of spermidine and spermine in red blood cells because their percentage recoveries are significantly different (100% for 1,6-hexanediamine, and 70% for spermidine and spermine). The external standard method and the standard addition method are better suited. The procedure for the preparation of the standard mixture before dansylation has an influence on the values of red blood cell polyamines. Two procedures are compared and the corresponding percentages of variation were found to be high for spermidine and spermine. Thus the procedure in which the standard is treated in a strictly similar way as the red blood cells is certainly the most appropriate one for the quantification.

The growth of MAT-LyLu rat prostatic adenocarcinoma can be prevented in vivo by polyamine deprivation

The combination of inhibitors of ornithine decarboxylase and polyamine oxidase, and of antibiotics suitable for the (partial) decontamination of the gastrointestinal tract, with a polyamine deficient diet, is responsible for the almost complete inhibition of the growth of MAT-LyLu prostatic adenocarcinoma. In the tumor-bearing animals, erythrocyte spermidine levels were reduced, but spermine concentrations were increased. As has been previously observed, the increase in erythrocyte spermine level was associated with an enhancement of malignant cell death. Adriamycin administration did neither diminish tumor growth, nor potentiate the antitumor effect of polyamine deprivation treatment. Interruption of the polyamine deprivation treatment was accompanied by a significant enhancement of tumor growth. Since polyamine deprivation causes only reversible growth inhibition, it seems not appropriate as a monotherapy.

Erythrocyte polyamine levels in human prostatic carcinoma

Abnormally high red blood cell polyamine levels were found in benign prostatic hyperplasia and in prostatic adenocarcinoma patients. In prostatic adenocarcinoma patients a relationship was noted between the importance of red blood cell spermidine and spermine concentrations, and the clinical stage of the disease (Whitmore classification). Considering prostatic adenocarcinoma patient populations, patients with metastases (groups 3 and 4) statistically differed from those without metastases (group 2). Furthermore, red blood cell polyamine level determination discriminated patients in the hormonal escape group (group 4) from those usually considered as hormone responsive (groups 2 and 3). No statistically significant correlation was observed between red blood cell polyamine levels and usual tumor markers (prostatic acid phosphatase and prostate specific antigen). These results confirmed that red blood cell polyamine levels must be considered as a circulating index of cell proliferation that might be of clinical importance during the long-term followup and treatment of prostatic adenocarcinoma patients.

Red blood cell polyamine level changes following heart transplantation in man

Follow-up of orthotopic heart transplanted patients has revealed the existence of abnormally high red blood cell (RBC) spermidine (Spd) levels during the first two months after surgical procedure (A-period). From the third month after heart transplantation (B-period), RBC Spd concentrations went back to normal values in early cardiac rejection (ECR) patients. During A- and B-periods, significantly higher Spd levels and Spd/Spm ratios were observed in late cardiac rejecting (LCR) patients than in ECR ones. The lack of a direct relationship between the histological grade of rejection and RBC Spd levels leads us to consider these polyamine blood levels as a new biological instrument in the diagnosis of heart rejection.

Type 3 fimbriae among enterobacteria and the ability of spermidine to inhibit MR/K hemagglutination

The distribution of the gene cluster encoding type 3 fimbriae among various isolates of the family Enterobacteriaceae was investigated by using 112 clinical and nonclinical isolates. Closely related DNA sequences were detected in all Klebsiella strains, in most Enterobacter isolates, in a smaller number of Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp., and in a single isolate each of Yersinia enterocolitica and Serratia liquefaciens but not in isolates of Morganella or Providencia species or Serratia marcescens. Except for E. coli and Salmonella strains, the presence of gene sequences was correlated with the phenotypic expression of either the MR/K hemagglutinin or fimbriae that reacted with specific antibodies. In one isolate of Y. enterocolitica the expression of type 3 fimbriae was plasmid determined. The polyamine spermidine was identified as an inhibitor of MR/K hemagglutinating activity, exhibiting an MIC of 1.2 mM. Spermidine inhibited the hemagglutination of 37 MR/K-positive clinical isolates from various genera. However, one clinical isolate of Enterobacter cloacae and most (four of five) nonclinical Klebsiella isolates were not completely inhibited.