ANOMALOUS STRUCTURE OF URINARY CHONDROITIN SULFATE FROM CANCER-PATIENTS - A POTENTIAL NEW MARKER FOR DIAGNOSIS OF NEOPLASIAS

BACKGROUND: Chondroitin sulfate is significantly increased in tumors ( 10 to 100 times) when compared to the amounts present in normal adjace nt tissues. To investigate if the changes in concentration of chondroi tin sulfate could be reflected in the urine of cancer patients we have analyzed the chondroitin sulfate excreted by 44 patients with differe nt types of tumors, 50 normal individuals and 15 patients with unrelat ed diseases. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The identification and structural an alyses of the sulfated glycosaminoglycans were made by electrophoresis and degradation with specific enzymes (chondroitinases AC and ABC), i dentification/quantitation of their disaccharide products by chromatog raphy (paper and HPLC) and chemical determinations. RESULTS: The disac charide products formed from chondroitin sulfate of the 44 cancer pati ents by action of chondroitinase ABC show a substantial relative incre ase of non sulfated disaccharide (32.1% +/- 15.2) with a relative decr ease of 6-sulfated disaccharide (28.9% +/- 11.5) and 4-sulfated disacc haride (39.0% +/- 13.5) when compared to the chondroitin sulfate of no rmal subjects (9.1% +/- 2.2, 40.6% +/- 4.5 and 50.2% +/- 4.5, respecti vely) or from patients with unrelated diseases. There is a direct corr elation between the non sulfated disaccharide content and the stage of malignancy of the cancer patients. A significant change of the ratio of chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate and a decrease in the elect rophoretic migration of chondroitin sulfate were also observed in canc er patients. CONCLUSIONS: All the cancer patients analyzed so far have shown the structural anomaly of the urinary chondroitin sulfate and t his may be useful in the diagnosis and follow up of cancer therapy.