CLINICAL-APPLICATION OF BASIC ARGININE AMIDASE IN HUMAN MALE URINE

Basic human urinary arginine amidase (or esterase, called BHUAE) which is only found in male urine, was measured from normal volunteers betw een the age of 4 and 70 years using D-valyl-L-leucyl-L-arginine-p-nitr oanilide as a substrate. BHUAE increases during early adolescence, bet ween 8 to 17 years of age, Then, BHUAE decreases in the twenties and t akes a certain range of value in the mature age group, between the lat e thirties and fifties. In patients with prostate cancer, a significan t increase in BHUAE was demonstrated in comparison,vith the healthy ma le group (control) over 55 years old, On the other hand, patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy showed no significant elevation of this enzyme activity, It would appear that the measurement of BHUAE in urin e can be used as a marker of prostate cancer in an advanced age group.