DIRECT CORRELATION BETWEEN NEOPTERIN AND EXCRETION OF TOTAL PTERIDINES IN NORMAL CONTROLS AND CANCER SUBJECTS

Measurement of urinary neopterin, a pteridine derivative, is specially useful for identification of all disease states involving an activate d cellular immune system, as is present, for example, during cancer gr owth and allograft rejections, and in patients infected with intracell ular microbes or viruses like human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV -1). The urinary level of total pteridines also has a significant corr elation with the incidence of all kinds of cancer. This report present s a direct comparison between the concentrations of neopterin and tota l pteridines in urine samples from a representative group of normal he althy subjects and cancer patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A close relationship between the excretory levels of both neopterin an d total pteridines was observed. The data presented indicate that meas urement of neopterin or total pteridines is of equal potential for cli nical applications. However, as specific measurement of neopterin by h igh-performance liquid chromatography or radioimmunoassay techniques b eing more expensive and time consuming, the rapid measurement of total pteridines should be preferred for routine monitoring of patients und er therapy as well as for single-step screening of a population for al l disease states associated with an activated cellular immune system.