AN “ ACID ” PHOSPHATASE OCCURRING IN THE SERUM OF PATIENTS WITH METASTASIZING CARCINOMA OF THE PROSTATE GLAND

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Abstract
Serum phosphatase activity at pH 4.9 was detd. by the King and Armstrong method adapted by using [image]/200 di-sodium monophenylphosphate substrate in [image]/10 citrate[long dash]HC1 buffer. The results are expressed in units= mg. phenol liberated, per 100 cc. serum, in 1 hr. under specified conditions of hydrolysis. Normal sera contain 0.5-2.5 units of "acid" phosphatase activity attributable (for reasons stated elsewhere) not to "alkaline" serum phosphatase, but to minute amts. of a phosphomonoesterase A2. The serum of 15 cases of metastasizing prostate carcinoma was studied, since it was thought that in this condition prostate tissue phos. might appear in the blood; 11 contained more than 4 units of "acid" ser. phos. activity, of which 6 exceeded 10 units. The increased activity is due to the presence in the serum of an "acid" phos. indistinguishable from prostate tissue phos. as regards pH-activity curves, effect of Mg and F ions, of alcohols, etc.; but with properties differing from those of recognized blood phos. ("alkaline" ser. phos., phos. of normal and "cancer" erythrocytes). Sera of 88 patients with diseases other than prostate carcinoma, including many with markedly elevated "alkaline" ser. phos. activity, did not yield values for "acid" phos. higher than 4 units, with 1 exception. The detn. of ser. phos. activity at pH 4.9 may be of limited value in the diagnosis of metastasizing carcinoma of the prostate gland.

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