Zinc concentrations in the expressed prostatic fluid of patients with bladder cancer

Abstract

Introduction: In our previous studies it was concluded that the zinc (Zn) level in in human expressed prostatic fluid (EPF) is a first candidate with the role of offering a new, simple, fast, reliable, and non-invasive diagnostic tool for prostate cancer (PCa) screening. However it was unclear how other non-prostatic diseases inherent of the old persons, including heart diseases, atherosclerosis, diabetes, asymptomatic cancer of different localization and some others, impact on a chemical element composition of expressed prostatic fluid. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether significant changes in the levels of Zn in EPF exist in patients with bladder cancer (BC). Methods: Prostatic fluid levels of Zn were prospectively evaluated in 17 patients with BC and 51 healthy male inhabitants (control group). Measurements were performed using 109Cd radionuclide-induced energy dispersive X-ray fluorescent microanalysis developed by us. Results: Mean value  standard deviation of mean (MSD) for concentration of Zn in the EPF of healthy males and patients with BC was 573202 mg/L and 625±108 mg/L, respectively. Using both parametric Student’s t-test and non-parametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U-test it was shown that the Zn concentration in the EPF of patients with BC did not differ from that in healthy subjects. Conclusion: Such serious illness as BC did not impact on the Zn concentration in the EPF.

Keywords

• prostate cancer
• bladder cancer
• expressed prostatic fluid
• zinc
• energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescent analysis