[The clinical significance of serum tissue polypeptide antigen as a tumor marker for urogenital carcinomas--a comparison with other tumor markers in patients with renal cell carcinoma and prostatic carcinoma].

Serum tissue polypeptide antigen (s-TPA) levels were determined in 124 patients having urogenital carcinomas, 74 with benign urological diseases and 55 normal subjects. We analyzed these results and determined the clinical significance of s-TPA as a tumor marker for urogenital carcinomas. S-TPA levels in the 55 normal subjects was 80 +/- 17 U/L (mean +/- S.D.). Since more than 95% of them showed an s-TPA level of below 110 U/L, this level was used as the cut-off value. The s-TPA level was 125 +/- 75 U/L for the 42 patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy, 138 +/- 60 U/L for the 15 patients with acute urinary tract infections (UTI) and 80 +/- 20 U/L in the 17 patients having other benign urological diseases. An elevated s-TPA level was clearly demonstrated in the case of acute UTI, which displayed a false positive result. The s-TPA level was 207 +/- 246 U/L for the 21 patients with bladder carcinoma, 197 +/- 52 U/L for the 5 patients with renal pelvic or ureteral carcinoma, 187 +/- 156 U/L for the 22 patients with renal cell carcinoma, 167 +/- 183 U/L for the 46 patients with prostatic carcinoma, and 95 +/- 28 U/L for the 8 patients with testicular carcinoma. In the 8 patients having bladder carcinoma, the elevation of s-TPA level seemed to be caused by the concomitant presence of acute UTI. The positive rate of s-TPA in various urogenital carcinomas was 100% for renal pelvic or ureteral carcinoma, 68% for renal cell carcinoma, 59% for bladder carcinoma, 52% for prostatic carcinoma and 13% for testicular carcinoma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)