Value of tumor M2 (Tu M2-PK) in patients with renal carcinoma

Pyruvate kinase is one of the glycolytic key enzymes. It exists in various isoforms which are expressed in different cell types. One of these isoforms , the type Tu M2-PK, is strongly over expressed by tumor cells and released into body fluids. The concentration of Tu M2-PK in body fluids can be quan titatively determined by a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbe nt assay (ELISA)-kit. The Tu M2-PK concentration was measured in EDTA-plasm a of 116 patients with renal carcinoma and 42 patients suffering from nephr itis, by using this kit. The ranges of the Tu M2-PK-concentrations of the t wo groups did not overlap, indicating a highly significant discrimination o f renal carcinoma and benign renal diseases. Furthermore, the Tu M2-PK conc entration in EDTA-plasma correlated strongly with the Robson tumor stage of the 116 patients. The present results indicated that the Tu M2-PK might be the fi,st tumor marker; which could be an excellent complementation of the diagnostic program for renal carcinoma.