Voided urine polyamine levels in bladder cancer

Introduction: Tumour markers for TCC may be valuable in screening, following up recurrences or predicting tumour aggressiveness. A reliable marker obtained from voided urine is not currently available. Polyamines are intracellular basic cell components, their concentration being raised in rapidly growing tissues such as tumour. We have measured polyamine levels in voided urine to determine if they are elevated in patients with TCC and if the levels vary between TCC grades. Patients and methods: Voided urine samples were provided by 65 patients with TCC and 60 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Levels of three polyamines (putrazine. cadaverine and spermine) were measured in all samples using HPLC and hydrolysis. Results: The mean (SEM) levels of polyamine (ng/mg creatinine) in voided urine are shown in the table. I'ohiamine Control Tumour P (Mann-Whltney U-test) Putrazine 1.18 (0.09) 2.65 (1.0) 0.02 Cadaverine 0.37 (0.08) 0.9 (0.03) 0.03 Spermine 0.19 (0.05) 0.47(0.02) 0.04 In urine samples from patients with TCC, there were also statistically significant differences among all TCC grades (P = 0.01) and grades 2 and 3 (P = 0.05) for all polyamines. Conclusion: Polyamine levels in voided urine correlate well with bladder tumour presence and grade. Measurement of polyamine levels in voided urine may be effective as a non-invasive method for diagnosing or monitoring patients with suspected or proven bladder cancer.