ALTERED RNA TURNOVER IN CARCINOGENESIS - THE DIAGNOSTIC POTENTIAL OF MODIFIED BASE EXCRETION

Excretion of urinary modified nucleosides is frequently elevated in pa tients with oncogenic disease. Increases of urinary pseudouridine excr etion are now demonstrated in patients with a variety of brain tumors. The potential use of urinary modified base excretion as a cancer mark er is discussed and possible sources of the elevated nucleosides are d etailed. The specific steps in RNA metabolism that result in increased levels of RNA nucleoside excretion are poorly understood. This knowle dge will be necessary to understand the molecular mechanism and the cl inical significance of urinary nucleoside excretion in treatment and d iagnosis of oncogenic disease.