PLASMA AND URINE CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDE LEVELS IN MALIGNANT DISEASE AND CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER

Plasma and 24-hour urinary cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP levels were determined by saturation analysis in specimens from normal subjects and from 101 patients with tumours of the gastrointestinal tract, breast, lung, bladder or prostate, or with cirrhosis of the liver. Relative to 46 control subjects, plasma cyclic GMP concentrations were significantly elevated in seven patients with gastric tumours, 20 patients with cancer of the breast, six patients with lung cancer, and 12 patients with cirrhosis of the liver. Urinary cyclic GMP/creatinine ratios were significantly increased in cirrhotic patients and in the lung and oesophageal cancer groups. In no cancer group were increases in plasma or urine cyclic GMP levels sufficiently consistent to be of value in the diagnosis of human malignant disease. Changes in extracellular fluid cyclic nucleotide levels in the cirrhotic group were very similar to those that have been reported for primary hepatoma patients.