Arylsulfatase A activity of urine in patients with various genitourinary tract disorders

Arylsulfatase A activity was measured in urine from patients with various genitourinary tract disorders such as bladder tumor and inflammation. No significant difference in enzyme activity was found between normal and affected urine on the basis of either the volume or protein content of urine, a finding which differed from previous results. However, it was demonstrated that urine from affected patients was more labile to heat treatment in comparison with the control. Upon pretreatment of urine arylsulfatase A at 62.5 degrees C for 10 min, an average of 57% of the original activity was lost in samples from patients with bladder tumor, 58% in those with testicular tumor and 62% in cystitis and urethritis, respectively, while the enzyme activity in the control urine lost only 27% with similar heat treatment. These results were statistically significant with p < 0.001. The arylsulfatase A from patients with advanced bladder tumors demonstrated the presence of a variant form (pI 5.3) which was not detected in normal urine. This variant of arylsulfatase A was also demonstrated in nephrostomy urine from patients with congenital obstruction of the pelvi-ureteric junction.