Prostatic acid phosphatase in serum of patients with prostatic cancer is a specific phosphotyrosine acid phosphatase.

We developed an assay to measure at acid pH the phosphotyrosine phosphatase activity in sera from patients with prostatic cancer. The method used quantifies the inorganic phosphate liberated from phosphotyrosine after incubation with serum, followed by the deproteinization of the reaction mixture. A high acid phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.2) activity towards phosphotyrosine was observed in all sera from patients with increased activity of prostatic acid phosphatase. This activity represented 96% of prostatic acid phosphatase and 77% of total acid phosphatase activities. Moreover, it was correlated (r = 0.91) with the amount of serum prostatic acid phosphatase determined by radioimmunoassay. When serum acid phosphatase activity was measured on several phosphorylated substrates, preferential hydrolysis was demonstrated for those in which the phosphate group was esterified on an aromatic ring rather than those presenting an aliphatic chain. Among phosphoamino acids, only phosphotyrosine was a good substrate, with little or no activity observed with phosphoserine and phosphothreonine. Human seminal plasma and partially purified prostatic acid phosphatase, tested for their activity on some of these substrates, gave similar results. On the other hand, sera from patients with above-normal alkaline phosphatase activity and no prostatic disease showed little or no activity on phosphotyrosine at both acid and alkaline pH values. Evidence is presented that the prostatic acid phosphatase in serum is a specific phosphotyrosine acid phosphatase.