title: Evaluation of serum cathepsin B and D in relation to clinicopathological staging of colorectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Proteolytic degradation of the extracellular matrix facilitates cancer invasion and promotes metastasis. The study aims at evaluation of preoperative and postoperative serum cathepsins B and D levels in correlation with selected anatomoclinical features of colorectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples were collected from 63 colorectal cancer patients before curative operation of the tumor 10 d later. Blood that was obtained from 20 healthy volunteers, served as a control. The activity of cathepsin B was measured with Bz-DL-arginine-pNA as a substrate at pH 6.0, while cathepsin D activity was determined with urea-denatured hemoglobin (pH 4.0).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The preoperative and postoperative activities of cathepsin B were significantly (P<0.00001) lower in serum of colorectal cancer patients than in control group. However, postoperative values of this protease were significantly increased in comparison with preoperative ones (P = 0.031). Activity of cathepsin D appeared to be significantly higher in colorectal cancer sera (P<0.00001) compared with controls. No statistically significant differences between preoperative and postoperative activity of cathepsin D were noted (P = 0.09). We revealed a strong linkage of cathepsins' levels with lymph node status and pT stage of colorectal cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blood serum activities of cathepsin B and D depend on the time of sampling, tumor size and lymph node involvement. Significantly, increased activity of cathepsin D could indicate a malignant condition of the large intestine. In our work, the serum postoperative decrease of cathepsin B activity appears as an obvious concomitant of local lymph node metastasis-the well-known clinicopathological feature of poor prognosis.
authors: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Medical University of Bialystok, Mickiewicza 2, 15-230 Bialystok, Poland. skrzydle@amb.edu.pl
authors: Elzbieta
authors: E
authors: Skrzydlewska
authors: Mariola
authors: M
authors: Sulkowska
authors: Andrzej
authors: A
authors: Wincewicz
authors: Mariusz
authors: M
authors: Koda
authors: Stanislaw
authors: S
authors: Sulkowski
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D002401:Cathepsin B / Q000097:blood*; D002402:Cathepsin D / Q000097:blood*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002401:Cathepsin B; D002402:Cathepsin D