Differences in pteridine urinary levels in patients with malignant and benign ovarian tumors in comparison with healthy individuals

• Neopterin levels were markedly elevated in ovarian cancer samples versus controls.
• Neopterin levels were less elevated in patients with benign ovarian tumors.
• Pterin levels follow a pattern similar to neopterin levels.
• Biopterin increased equally in both (malignant and benign) tumor samples.

Pteridines belong to a class of fluorescent metabolites that are excreted by humans in urine and their concentrations can reflect various pathophysiological states. We quantified the differences in urinary pteridine levels in patients with malignant and benign ovarian tumors and in healthy individuals. Urine samples were centrifuged and supernatants were oxidized by MnO2 before analysis. Levels of neopterin, biopterin, and pterin were assessed by fluorescence analysis of human urine after HPLC separation.We have revealed that the median neopterin levels were higher in urine samples from patients with malignant (0.226 μmol/mmol creatinine) and benign ovarian tumors (0.150 μmol/mmol creatinine) than in healthy subjects (0.056 μmol/mmol creatinine). The median neopterin levels of patients with malignant tumors were higher (1.5-times) than in patients with benign tumors. The median biopterin level in urine of patients with benign ovarian tumors (0.268 μmol/mmol creatinine) was found to be very close to the level in patients with malignant ovarian tumors (0.239 μmol/mmol creatinine), and both were higher than in healthy samples (0.096 μmol/mmol creatinine). The levels of urine pterin followed a pattern similar to neopterin levels for both ovarian tumors, but their concentrations were about three times lower than neopterin levels.