title: Serum active hepatocyte growth factor (AHGF) in benign prostatic disease and prostate cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is secreted as an inactive single-chain precursor called pro-HGF. Pro-HGF is converted to an active two-chain form by HGF activator and matriptase. We attempted to clarify whether serum levels of active HGF (AHGF) could be used as a marker of prostate cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum levels of AHGF and total HGF (THGF; pro-HGF + AHGF) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 38 patients with benign prostatic disease and 160 patients with prostate cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum levels of AHGF in patients with untreated prostate cancer (0.37 +/- 0.12 ng/ml) were significantly higher than those in patients with benign prostatic disease (0.28 +/- 0.08 ng/ml) (P = 0.0001). Serum AHGF levels were increased in patients with stage D or D3 compared with stage B. In addition, there were significant differences in serum AHGF levels between patients with well-differentiated and poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Furthermore, the mean serum AHGF/THGF ratio in patients with stage D3 prostate cancer was significantly higher than that in patients with stage B.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AHGF may be a potential tumor marker for prostate cancer. Further studies in large groups of patients are needed to define the clinical value of AHGF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences for Research, University of Toyama, Japan. kenji@med.u-toyama.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nagakawa
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akashi
authors.forename: Yasuyoshi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiuchi
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koizumi
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Komiya
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saiki
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fuse
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D018450:Disease Progression; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011469:Prostatic Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D053491:Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory / Q000097:blood; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D053491:Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; C109149:SPINT1 protein, human; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor