The levels of
fibronectin in urine from patients with
prostatic cancer, from patients with benign
urologic disease, and from healthy control individuals were determined by the use of a
gelatin affinity chromatography procedure. The assay does not seem to give false positive results, inasmuch as evaluation of 16 patients with benign
urologic disease showed urinary
fibronectin levels in the same range as those found in healthy controls. For a single determination, the levels in 42 per cent of
prostatic cancer patients were elevated above control levels; when
prostatic cancer patients were evaluated sequentially, the determination of urinary
fibronectin levels over three sampling times approached a 100 per cent correlation with presence of disease. Inasmuch as levels of urinary
fibronectin episodically elevate in patients with prostatic
carcinoma, the differential frequency and magnitude of urinary
fibronectin elevations may be useful markers to assess
tumor aggressiveness and to monitor the impact of a therapeutic modality.