Isolation of a novel glycoprotein from the urine of a patient with chronic myelocytic leukemia

Lipocalins and cancer

Lipocalins are mainly extracellular carriers of lipophilic molecules, though exceptions with properties like prostaglandin synthesis and protease inhibition are observed for specific lipocalins. The interest concerning lipocalins in cancer has so far been focussed to the variations in concentration and the modification of lipocalin expression in distinct cancer forms. In addition, lipocalins have been assigned a role in cell regulation. The influence of the extracellular lipocalins on intracellular cell regulation events is not fully understood, but several of the lipocalin ligands are also well-known agents in cell differentiation and proliferation. Lipophilic ligands can, after lipocalin-mediated transport to the cell surface, penetrate the cell membrane and interact with proteins in the cytosol and/or the nucleus. The signaling routes of the lipocalin ligands, retinoids and fatty acids are presented and discussed. Tumor growth in tissue is restricted by extracellular protease/protease inhibitor interactions. Several lipocalins also have protease inhibitory properties and possess the ability to interact with tumor specific proteases, revealing another pathway for lipocalins to interact with cancer cells.

Decreased major urinary protein in male Bar Harbor 129 REJ dystrophic mice indicates a hormonal deficiency

A significant decrease in major urinary protein (MUP) in adult male Bar Harbor 129REJ dystrophic mice correlated with a marked decrease in the amount of translatable MUPmRNA in the liver. Previous investigations have shown that MUP synthesis is under complex multihormonal regulation suggesting that the dystrophic mouse may have a hormonal deficiency.

Production and characterization of xenogeneic antisera to tumor-associated antigen(s)

Tumor-associated antigen(s) from a specimen of human malignant melanoma and from spent culture medium of a melanoma cell line were extracted and purified. The incidence of antibody activity to these antigens, in sera from cancer patients with neoplasms of various histologic types, was higher (65--83%) than normal donors' (19--25%) by the complement fixation assay. These purified antigens were then used to raise antisera in rabbits and sheep. After absorption with various human normal tissues, these antisera reacted against melanoma, sarcoma, and carcinoma extracts, but not against human normal liver, skin, or muscle extracts. However, the antisera showed reactivity against a human fetal homogenate. Results indicate that the xenogeneic antisera contained antibodies to fetal antigens and to tumor-associated antigen(s). Xenogeneic antisera could be used to purify tumor-associated antigens and oncofetal antigen(s) from crude extracts by affinity chromatography.

Cancer cachexia

Cancer cachexia is characterized clinically by anorexia, early satiety, weight loss. anemia, and marked asthenia. The syndrome is not the result of semistarvation alone but it represents a complex metabolic problem. In the host there are abnormalities in metabolism of energy, carbohydrate, lipid and protein, in water content, in acid-base balance, in electrolyte, mineral and vitamin concentrations, alterations in the activity of host tissue enzymes and changes in endocrine homeostasis and immunologic mechanisms. The cancer initiates and contributes to the genesis of the syndrome but complications of the disease and the treatment may also play a role. Only the control of the cancer can reverse completely the syndrome. It was proposed that cancer peptides throw the host metabolism into a chaotic biochemical state by activating and inactivating host enzymes. This results in increased energy expenditure; the released host metabolites and trapped by the growing cancer.

Detection of cancer-associated antigen(s) in urine of sarcoma patients

Tumor-associated antigens were demonstrated in concentrated and dialyzed urine of several sarcoma patients with large tumor burden. The antigens were detected by complement fixation using autologous and allogeneic sera from sarcoma patients. The antigenic activity in three patients who were studied sequentially disappeared after surgical ablation of tumor. In two of these three patients, the antigenic activity reappeared before tumor recurrence. The reactivity of the sarcoma sera to the urine could be abolished by absorption of the sera with human sarcoma cells but not by normal human liver cells, which indicates that the same antigen was present in the urine and on biopsy-obtained sarcoma cells. Urine from cancer patients with high tumor burden may be useful as a source of tumor-associated antigen. Further studies on the presence of these antigens in urine of sarcoma patients may lead to a method for detecting subclinical tumor recurrence.