title: Identification of N-ethylglycine in urine of cancer patients with metastatic bone disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previously, a HPLC method for the determination of N-terminal prolyl dipeptides, proline and hydroxyproline in urine with fluorescence detection after pre-column derivatization with 4-(5,6-dimethoxy-2-phthalimidinyl)-2-methoxyphenylsulfonyl chloride (DMS-Cl) [Inoue H, Iguchi H, Kono A, Tsuruta Y. Highly sensitive determination of N-terminal prolyl dipeptides, proline and hydroxyproline in urine by high-performance liquid chromatography using a new fluorescent labelling reagent, 4-(5,6-dimethoxy-2-phthalimidinyl)-2-methoxyphenylsulfonyl chloride. J Chromatogr 1999;724:221-230] was developed to study the relation between those analytes and bone diseases. When the urinary analytes were measured, a large peak due to an unknown substance was recognized in the chromatograms of cancer patients with metastatic bone disease, although it was scarcely present in normal subjects. In this study, we identified the unknown substance.
  
  
  METHODS
  The fluorescent fraction based on the unknown substance was collected using HPLC and the structure of the fluorescence product was analyzed with MS, (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The fluorescence product based on the unknown substance was established to be a DMS-derivative of N-ethylglycine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Excretion of N-ethylglycine in the urine of cancer patients with metastatic bone disease is recognized, although N-ethylglycine is scarcely excreted in the urine of normal subjects.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Fukuyama University, Fukuyama, Hiroshima 729-0292, Japan. tsuruta@fupharm.fukuyama-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yasuto
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuruta
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Sayaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Munemura
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishizu
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamano
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iguchi
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary; D015394:Molecular Structure; D034442:N-substituted Glycines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000652:urine*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: C518321:N-ethylglycine; D034442:N-substituted Glycines