Urinary Pteridine Levels during Proliferation of Malignant and Normal Cells

Abstract

A rapid method was described earlier for estimation of total urinary pteridines, a method found suitable for monitoring cancer patients under therapy (Trehan and Noronha [1993] J. Clin. Biochem. Nutr., 14, 195-2O3). This method was employed in the present study for monitoring development of Yoshida ascites tumor and regeneration of liver in partially hepatectomized rats. During tumor development the total urinary pteridines to creatinine ratio was found to increase progressively by more than five fold. The progressive increase in urinary pteridine levels correlated well with the tumor development. However, when partially hepatectomized rats with rapidly regenerating normal liver cells were monitored over a 13-day post-hepatectomy period, almost normal excretory levels of pteridines were found throughout this regeneration period. This clearly brings out that though both the systems investigated involved proliferating cells, the increased urinary pteridine excretion was associated solely with malignant cell growth and not with proliferating normal tissue.