Arylsulfatase A activities in urine and tissues taken from bladder cancer patients

Urinary arylsulfatase A activity expressed as units/mg of urinary creatinine was significantly increased in bladder cancer patients, but not in patients with other genitourinary tract disorders, such as cystitis, urethritis and prostatic cancer, nor in patients with non-urological malignant diseases. The urinary enzyme activity was positively correlated with the stage of the bladder cancer, while post surgical follow-up revealed a marked decrease of the activity. Arylsulfatase A activity was also shown to be higher in malignant than in normal bladder tissue, demonstrating the activity to be a function of the grade of the tumor. Furthermore, the isoelectric point (pI 5.2-5.3) of the tissue enzyme in the bladder tumor coincided with that of the urine enzyme from the same cancer patients; the pI of the enzyme in urine from normal subjects was 4.7. These results suggest that most of the urinary arylsulfatase A in bladder cancer originates from tumor tissue.