PMID: 9525063Apr 3, 1998Paper

Prostate-specific antigen and history of its discovery

Bratislavské lekárske listy
M Zaviacic

Abstract

In contradistinction to prostatic acid phosphatase (PAcP), prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is currently the most reliable and most frequently used marker for identification of normal and pathologically altered prostatic tissues both in the male and female. In clinical practice, it has become an appreciated serum marker in the assessment and management of prostate carcinoma in the male, although it is far from being a perfect "tumor" marker. Our knowledge on female PSA is expected to be broadened by the introduction of novel highly sensitive serological methods (IMMULITE--immunochemiluminiscent third-generation PSA assay and others), which in some females have already demonstrated surprisingly high values. Biochemically, PSA in seminal fluid in its free form has a molecular weight of about 30,000 daltons, while in serum, where it occurs in the complex form with alpha1-chymotrypsin, its molecular weight is approximately 100,000 daltons being comparable to that of PAcP. On immunohistochemical examination, PSA is expressed in the highly specialized apically-superficial layer of male and female secretory (luminal) cells of the prostatic glands, as well as at other sites of the urogenital tract, frequently coinciding with glucosamine...Continue Reading

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