466 Free and α 1 antichymotrypsin bound PSA in prostate diseases

The discovery of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the blood was a major step forward in the evaluation of prostate cancer. Nevertheless, at early stages, PSA assay has a low specificity: rather than a tumor marker, it has to be considered as a prostate (i.e. malignant and benign diseases) marker. In order to evaluate the contribution of free PSA versus total PSA we tested 197 men (>44 years) with RIACT CIS bio international techniques: 47 with prostate cancer, 128 BPH, 22 normal controls. Results showed that Free/total PSA ratio is almost twice lower in patients with cancer than in patients with BPH or controls. Even if there is an overlap between cancer and BPH results, FPSA seems to provide a promising mean to differentiate benign and malignant prostate diseases at early stages.