Differentiating malignant colorectal tumor patients from benign colorectal tumor patients by assaying morning urinary arylsulfatase activity

Aim: For several decades urinary arylsulfatase (ARS) activity has been reported to be elevated in many cancers. It has been shown that urinary ARS activity may serve as a marker of tumor progression and therapy surveillance. This study was designed to evaluate the clinical application of detection of urinary ARS activity. Methods: We used a modified precipitation method to separate ARS from urine samples. This method was easy to use and applicable for a high throughput assay. We tested and analyzed the morning urinary ARS activity in 300 normal controls, 97 patients with benign tumors and 119 with malignant colorectal tumor. Results: Compared to normal male and female controls, morning urinary ARS activity was significantly higher in malignant colorectal tumor patients. Moreover, morning urinary ARS activity had a relatively high efficacy in distinguishing patients with malignant colorectal tumors from those with benign colorectal tumors. The area under the curve in the receiver operator characteristics curve analysis was 0.89 (95% CI, 0.83–0.95) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.79–0.94) in male and female colorectal patients, respectively. Conclusion: These data suggest the potential application of morning urinary ARS activity to conventional clinical use.