Gout drug, Allopurinol,
Gives Cancer Early Warning

A new test using gout medicine may pinpoint early cancers in patients at risk because of genetic or environmental factors. The test temporarily slows DNA production in cancer cells, causing some elements of DNA to accumulate in the blood. When these materials are excreted in large amounts in urine, they indicate the presence of cancer.
    Initial results are promising but the test needs further research. "We must study larger groups of patients, and if these preliminary results are confirmed, doctors possibly could use the test for the early detection of tumors in patients at risk for cancer," says Saul Brusilow, M.D., professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins. "It might also be useful as a post-surgical test for residual cancer cells."

Simple Urine Test

Hopkins researchers found 8 of 11 cancer patients tested positive for cancer using the new technique. The patients, who were diagnosed with cancer before taking the new test, had a variety of tumors.
    Patients gave a baseline urine sample and took one allopurinol pill. This drug, ordinarily used to treat gout, also temporarily interferes with the production of elements of DNA called pyrimidines. Patients' urine was collected in four periods over 24 hours and tested for increased levels of orotidine and orotate, two compounds used to build pyrimidines. Increases in the levels of these compounds were surprisingly large.
     "These dramatic changes suggest that it may be possible to use the test to detect some small tumors earlier than we ever could before," says Brusilow. "We're still relatively early in the development, but I'm confident that the test can be implemented in a cost-effective manner," says Brusilow.
     Other authors were Michael Carducci, M.D., assistant professor of oncology; Michael Choti, M.D., division of surgical oncology; and Nancy Maestri, Ph.D., assistant professor of pediatrics. The results of the study appeared in the May issue of In Vivo.