Urinary pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline in prostate carcinoma patients with bone metastasis

Bone metastases from prostate carcinoma are predominantly osteoblastic. Recently, urinary pyridinoline (Pyr) and deoxypyridinoline (Dpyr) have been employed as indicators of bone resorption. In this study, we evaluated urinary Pyr and Dpyr levels in 19 prostate carcinoma patients, of whom 12 had bone metastasis and seven had not, and 11 age-matched control subjects. There was a significant difference in Pyr levels between the control group and the patients with metastasis (mean +/- s.d., 19.5 +/- 7.2 vs 73.3 +/- 67.1 nmol mmol-1 creatinine, P < 0.05). The mean level of Dpyr in the patients with metastasis (10.8 +/- 8.0 nmol mmol-1 creatinine) was significantly higher than that in the control group (3.1 +/- 2.1 nmol mmol-1 creatinine, P < 0.01), and also higher than that in the patients without metastasis (3.5 +/- 1.9 nmol mmol-1 creatinine, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in Pyr and Dpyr levels between the control group and the patients without metastasis. These results suggest that bone resorption is also accelerated in prostate carcinoma patients with bone metastasis.