Abstract
Enzyme pathways in CATS metabolism are thought to influence the clinical expression of NB and its prognosis. We examined the diagnostic urinary CATS of 40 children with NB and the tumor CATS of 18 of these. Dopa (DA), dopamine (DM), epinephrine (Epi), norepinephrine (NE), normetanephrine (NM), vanylmandelic acid (VMA), and homovanillic acid (HVA) were routinely measured. We correlated the absolute and relative amounts with the child's age, site of tumor, stage, degree of path differentiation and prognosis.
Results: 1. Tumor and urinary CATS correlated unpredictably, indicating that urinary CATS do not reliably reflect tumor CAT patterns. 2. Ratios of urinary NM and VMA to DA and DM provided most consistent information. 3. Relative increases in DA and DM were seen in advanced stages with poor outcome, but this did not correlate with path appearances. 4. Relative increases in NM and VMA were seen in infants less than 12 months, particularly with stage IVS NB, also not correlated with path appearances.
Conclusions: CAT metabolism in NB has important biologic significance in terms of the tumor's clinical expression and prognosis. More sophisticated methodology is needed (eg, electron microscopy) to establish whether the degree of path differentiation correlates with tumor catecholamine patterns.
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Graham-Pole, J., Anton, A., Salmi, T. et al. 810 TUMOR AND URINARY CATECHOLAMINES (CATS) IN CHILDREN WITH NEUROBLASTOMA (NB): CORRELATIONS WITH PATHOLOGY (PATH), STAGING, AND PROGNOSIS. Pediatr Res 15 (Suppl 4), 577 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-00835
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-00835