Pretreatment serum level of neuron specific enolase (NSE) as a prognostic factor in metastatic prostate cancer patients treated with endocrine therapy.
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.
Kamiya
Naoto
N
Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba, Japan. akakurak@tkn-hosp.gr.jp
Akakura
Koichiro
K
Suzuki
Hiroyoshi
H
Isshiki
Shinzou
S
Komiya
Akira
A
Ueda
Takeshi
T
Ito
Haruo
H
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
D000726:Androgen Antagonists; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase