title: Pretreatment serum level of neuron specific enolase (NSE) as a prognostic factor in metastatic prostate cancer patients treated with endocrine therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The serum level of neuron specific enolase (NSE) is gaining acceptance as a marker of neuroendocrine tumors. To clarify the role of NSE in prostate cancer progression, we examined the relationship of NSE to clinicopathological parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  The pretreatment serum NSE level was measured in 104 patients with histologically confirmed prostatic adenocarcinoma (PCa) and 59 patients in whom prostate cancer was not detected (non-PCa). PCa patients consisted of 5 T1N0M0, 20 T2N0M0, 31 T3N0M0, 7 TxN1M0 and 41 TxNxM1 cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Non-PCa patients had significantly higher serum NSE than PCa patients. Serum NSE in metastatic PCa patients was significantly higher than that in non-metastatic patients, while NSE did not significantly differ with regard to histological grade, or prostate specific antigen (PSA) response to endocrine therapy. In PCa patients, serum NSE was not correlated to serum PSA nor chromogranin A. In metastatic patients who underwent endocrine therapy, the higher NSE group had significantly poorer cause-specific survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pretreatment serum level of NSE can predict survival of metastatic PCa patients treated with endocrine therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba, Japan. akakurak@tkn-hosp.gr.jp
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kamiya
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akakura
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Shinzou
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Isshiki
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Komiya
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D000368:Aged; D000726:Androgen Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000726:Androgen Antagonists; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase