Angiotensin converting enzyme – a new prognostic marker of recurrence in the treatment of prostate cancer

Background. Introduction to the clinical practice of new criteria for the diagnosis and monitoring of neoplastic processes in the prostate based on the identification of informative predictors and markers of prostate cancer (PC), especially its aggressive forms, is one of the priority directions of scientific research in oncological urology. The goal – the search of new markers of aggressive forms of PC.

Materials and methods. For identification associated with PC progression indicators – potential markers clinically aggressive forms of PC was determined activity kininase II (angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), EC 3.4.15.1) in serum of blood with using as substrate N-(3-(2-furyl) acryloyl)-L-phenylalanyl-glycyl-glycine (FAPGG). Retrospectively evaluated ACE activity in patients with the development of biochemical recurrence and without after hormone-radiation therapy.

Results. It has been shown that the development of PC recurrence is associated with an increase in ACE activity, and the ACE activity starts to grow sooner than noted the development of biochemical recurrence. Joint determination of prostate-specific antigen and the activity of the enzyme after a month of treatment allows to select a group of patients with high risk of biochemical recurrence with sensitivity, specificity of 78.6 % (p < 0.001), respectively 94,6 % (p < 0.001).

Conclusions. There is every reason to believe that ACE is a promising predictive marker of clinically aggressive forms of PC. The renin-angiotensin system in PC can be considered as a new therapeutic target for targeted therapy.