title: Quantification of cathepsin D in plasma of patients with malignant melanoma.
abstract: The high mortality rate of melanoma patients who develop metastases prompted us to seek for a prognostic soluble marker to identify high-risk and non-risk patients at the stage of the primary tumour. Therefore, we developed a new ELISA for quantifying plasma concentrations of the proteolytic enzyme cathepsin D (CD) in patients with primary tumours (MM-P) and with metastases (MM-M), respectively, compared to a control group. Whereas healthy probands (n = 56) and MM-P (n = 68) showed similar mean values of CD (0.73 +/- 0.45 ng/ml and 0.82 + 0.80 ng/ml), MM-M (n = 40) yielded significantly reduced plasma levels (0.43 +/- 0.53 ng/ml) revealing a high significant discrimination both between controls and MM-M, and MM-P and MM-M (p < 0.0001). From the beginning of the study (1990) to the present 11 of 68 MM-P developed metastases. In order to test the prognostic efficiency of this enzyme to determine those patients at high-risk and non-risk for developing metastases, the receiver operating characteristic analysis was used showing that CD plasma levels cannot supply reliable prognostic values (W = 0.53, p = 0.66).
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumour Research, Fachklinik Hornheide, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Westhoff
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Otto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002402:Cathepsin D / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002402:Cathepsin D