title: Arginase activity in carcinoma of the gallbladder: a pilot study.
abstract: Carcinoma of the gallbladder is the third most common cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. Recent studies have shown increased arginase activity in various malignancies. The main aim of this study was to evaluate whether arginase activity increases in carcinoma of the gallbladder. The arginase activity was evaluated in serum and gallbladder tissue in 22 patients with histologically proven carcinoma of the gallbladder and 20 patients with cholecystitis using spectrophotometry and western blot assay. The Student's t-test, analysis of variance, and Student-Newman-Keuls test were used for comparison of data and for statistical significance. The mean tissue arginase and serum arginase activity (118.64+/-17.45 and 15.91+/-1.91, respectively) in cases of carcinoma of the gallbladder were significantly higher in comparison with cholecystitis (86.37+/-4.45 and 12.73+/-0.72, respectively). Subgroup analysis showed stage III gallbladder carcinoma had the maximum tissue arginase activity (142.00+/-21.68 U/g of tissue) followed by stage II (124.15+/-19.88) and stage I (108.46+/-6.73). This significant rise in mean tissue arginase and serum arginase activity in patients with gallbladder cancer probably supports an association between arginase activity and the malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. vkshuklabhu@gmail.com
authors.forename: Vijay Kumar
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: Ashutosh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tandon
authors.forename: Braja Kishor
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Ratha
authors.forename: Deborshi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Tej Bali
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Somprakas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001119:Arginase / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002764:Cholecystitis / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects
chemical_list: D001119:Arginase