Urinary excretion of epidermal-type fatty acid-binding protein and S100A7 protein in patients with cutaneous melanoma

Epidermal-type fatty acid-binding protein (E-FABP), a protein related to the intracellular trafficking of fatty acids, is expressed in melanocytic tumours but not in normal human melanocytes. E-FABP interacts with S100A7. The presence of these two proteins was investigated in the urine of patients with cutaneous melanoma or other types of cancer, and healthy controls. The first voided morning urine samples of 31 patients with melanoma, 73 patients with other types of cancer and 17 healthy controls were concentrated and submitted to sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) immunoblotting for protein detection. In the healthy controls, the incidences of urinary detection of these proteins were higher in females than in males, being 50% (five out of 10) versus 0% (zero out of seven) for E-FABP (P < 0.05), and 70% (seven out of 10) versus 0% (zero out of seven) for S100A7 (P < 0.05). Both proteins were detected in the urine of patients with melanoma. The incidence of S100A7 was higher in the urine of patients with melanoma (77%, 24 out of 31) compared with healthy controls (41%, seven out of 17) and patients with other types of cancer (53%, 39 out of 73) (P < 0.03). In contrast, the incidence of E-FABP was the same among the melanoma group (39%, 12 out of 31), healthy controls (29%, five out of 17) and patients with other types of cancer (23%, 17 out of 73). Surprisingly, E-FABP was always detected in the urine of females with stage I/II or III melanoma, but was no longer detectable in the urine of patients with stage IV melanoma. Urinary S100A7 may have some specificity to the host response to melanoma since its incidence was not increased in other cancers. The lack of E-FABP detection in the urine of patients with distant metastases suggests an inverse relationship between E-FABP release and the spread of melanoma. (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.