title: Inability of bone turnover marker as a strong prognostic indicator in prostate cancer patients with bone metastasis: comparison with the extent of disease (EOD) grade.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although clinical investigations of bone turnover markers in prostate cancer patients have been conducted, the relationships of pretreatment levels of the markers to the prognosis of patients with bone metastasis has not been fully examined.
  
  
  METHODS
  The serum levels of carboxy-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PICP) and carboxy-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) were examined in 48 untreated prostate cancer patients with bone metastasis, and the prognoses of the patients were evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients with low PICP or ALP values had significantly better outcomes in terms of cause-specific survival compared to the patients with high PICP or ALP values. There was no significant difference in survival between patients with high and low ICTP or PSA values. The multivariate analysis of PICP, ICTP, ALP, PSA, and extent of disease (EOD) grade revealed that only the EOD grade was an important prognostic indicator for survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results demonstrate that the extent of bone metastasis evaluated by bone scintigrams is a more important prognostic indicator than are the serum biochemical markers of bone turnover.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akimoto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akakura
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shimazaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000556:secondary*; D003094:Collagen / Q000097:blood; D024042:Collagen Type I; D003124:Colorimetry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood; D010455:Peptides / Q000097:blood; D011347:Procollagen / Q000097:blood; D011379:Prognosis; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D016896:Treatment Outcome