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Tumor marker pyruvate kinase type tumor M2 in patients suffering from diabetic nephropathy
G M Oremek1, F Rutner, N Sapoutzis
1Central Laboratory, Hospital of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
Introduction:
Compared to normal tissues all tumors investigated so far and especially those with a metastatic potential overexpress an isoenzyme of the pyruvate kinase, the pyruvate kinase type tumor M2 (TU M2-PK). Because of its monomeric structure, the TU M2-PK has no function at all.
Patients And Methods:
Using an enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) developed by ScheBooTech (Wettenberg, Germany) we measured the concentration of TU M2-PK in EDTA-plasma of 12 probands with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and 91 patients suffering from non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, both with diabetic nephropathy. Moreover we focused on the way it compares to other metabolic markers such as HbA1c, glucose and proteins.
Results:
Among the 12 patients afflicted by insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus 17%, and the 91 probands with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus as many as 19% of the samples were raised over the cut-off of 25 U/ml EDTA-plasma. A correlation with the other investigated parameters could not be found.
Conclusion:
This study shows that the TU M2-PK in EDTA-plasma of patients with diabetic nephropathy presents 38.8% "false-positive" data and thus must be questioned as a tumor marker.