Melatonin, Thymic Serum Factor, and Cortisol Levels in Healthy Subjects of Different Age and Patients With Skin Melanoma

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Abstract
Results are given of daily excretion levels of 6-oxymelatonin, thymic serum factor (FTS), and cortisol in the blood of 140 healthy subjects and 90 patients with skin melanoma, ranging from 20 to 49 years of age. Correlation factor (.eta.) was used for evaluating the correlation between the indices examined. Daily excretion of 6- oxymelatonin was found to decrease considerably in healthy men over 30 years of age, the extent of such reduction correlating with age (.eta. = 0.48 .+-. 0.19, P < 0.02). Similar correlation is absent in healthy women. There is an age-related reduction in FTS in both healthy women (.eta. = 0.63 .+-. 0.13, P < 0.001) and men (.eta. = 0.57 .+-. 0.12 P < 0.001), although in the latter this reduction occurs 10 years earlier (beginning at 30 years) and is more pronounced. Blood cortisol levels in healthy subjects increase with age, more notably in men than in women. Age-related changes in the content of the hormones under study are still more pronounced when patients of corresponding age groups develop neoplasms. Male patients from 20 to 29 and 30 to 49 years of age with melanoma show daily levels of 6-oxymelatonin excretion of 10.13 .+-. 0.71 .mu.g/24 hr and 11.70 .+-. 1.26 .mu.g/24 hr, respectively, while healthy men of the same age show much higher melatonin levels, i.e., 18.98 .+-. 1.36 .mu.g/24 hr and 15.46 .+-. 1.13 .mu.g/24 hr, respectively. Male melanoma patients aged 30 to 49 years have reduced log2 of FTS titres (as little as 1.44 .+-. 0.23) compared to that of healthy age-matched males (3.40 .+-. 0.23, P < 0.05). In female patients aged 20-39 years and 40-49 years, the log2 of FTS titers was 1.96 .+-. 0.37 and 1.62 .+-. 0.25, respectively, which is significantly lower (P < 0.05) than values for healthy women of the same age (5.60 .+-. 0.17 and 3.60 .+-. 0.41). In melanoma male and female patients from 20 to 49 years of age, cortisol levels are significantly higher than the mean values for this hormone in age-matched healthy subjects, being 193.18 .+-. 19.67 ng/ml and 135.43 .+-. 14.35 ng/ml, respectively (with normal levels of 140.60 .+-. 9.62 ng/ml and 101.03 .+-. 8.61 ng/ml). The results of correlation analysis indicate that daily excretion values for 6-oxymelatonin in healthy subjects correlate with both FTS titers and cortisol content, while the latter two correlate with each other (P < 0.05). Statistically significant correlation between the levels of all examined hormones was found in melanoma patients as well (P < 0.05).