Synonyms
Definition
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a serine protease (33 kD) secreted mainly by prostatic epithelium. It is important for its role in the liquefaction of seminal coagulum.
Characteristics
After a tissue-specific antigen was identified in the human prostate in 1970 and the discovery of prostatic antigens in seminal plasma, PSA was subsequently isolated and characterized in 1979. PSA was cloned in 1987. PSA mRNA encodes for (261) 244 amino acid (pre)proforms of the protein, although the mature, catalytically active, single-chain form of the protein contains 237 amino acid residues. As member of the human kallikreinfamily, PSA shares considerable structural and functional homology with all other 14 human kallikreins, together with a gene location on the long arm of chromosome 19 (19q13.2-q13.4). Kallikreins are proteases that cleave vasoactive kinin peptides from kininogen. PSA, however, functions as a chymotrypsin-like serine protease...
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References
Catalona WJ, Partin AW, Slawin KM et al (1998) Use of the percentage of free prostate-specific antigen to enhance differentiation of prostate cancer from benign prostatic disease: a prospective multicenter clinical trial. JAMA 279:1542–1547
Mikolajczyk SD, Marks LS, Partin AW et al (2002) Free prostate-specific antigen in serum is becoming more complex. Urology 59:797–802
Polascik TJ, Oesterling JE, Partin AW (1999) Prostate specific antigen: a decade of discovery-what we have learned and where we are going. J Urol 162:293–306
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Schroder FH, Hugosson J, Roobol MJ et al. (2014) Screening and prostate cancer mortality: results of the European Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) at 13 years of follow-up. Lancet 384:2027–2035
Thompson IM, Pauler DK, Goodman PJ et al (2004) Prevalence of prostate cancer among men with a prostate-specific antigen level < or = 4.0 ng per milliliter. N Engl J Med 350:2239–2246
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Stephan, C. (2016). Prostate-Specific Antigen. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46875-3_4836
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46875-3_4836
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