PLASMA AND URINE CYCLIC GUANOSINE 3'-5'-MONOPHOSPHATE IN DISSEMINATED CANCER

Plasma and 24-h urinary adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) and guanosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cyclic GMP) were measured by radioimmunoassay in 12 normal subjects, 33 patients with six types of non-neoplastic disease (cholelithiasis, peptic ulcer, coronary heart disease, hypertension, regional ileitis, and cirrhosis), and 34 patients with five types of disseminated neoplastic disease (acute myelocytic leukemia; Hodgkin's disease; and metastatic cancer of the lung, colon, and breast). In patients with non-neoplastic disease, cyclic nucleotide values in plasma and urine did not differ significantly (P>0.05) from those in normal subjects. In patients with disseminated cancer, cyclic AMP values in plasma and urine likewise did not differ significantly from those in normal subjects. Plasma cyclic GMP, in contrast, was significantly elevated in all five types of cancer patients, and urinary cyclic GMP was significantly elevated five times the normal mean) in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia and Hodgkin's disease.