METHOD FOR DETERMINING PROSTATE CANCER

摘要

Disclosed is a method for detecting the sugar chain structure of a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) rapidly and with high sensitivity and determining the occurrence of prostate cancer based on the difference in the structure, particularly a method for discriminating between prostate cancer and benign prostatomegaly accurately.  Specifically disclosed is a method for determining the occurrence of prostate cancer, which is characterized by involving a step of analyzing the sugar chain structure of a PSA in a sample derived from a subject, wherein the subject is determined as being suffering from prostate cancer when the amount of a sugar chain (LacdiNAc(+)) that has LacdiNAc (N-acetylgalactosamine-N-acetylglucosamine) is larger than 30% of the amount of a sugar chain (LacdiNAc(-)) that does not have LacdiNAc but has LacNAc (galactose-N-acetylglucosamine), particularly the subject is determined as being suffering from prostate cancer when the amount of the LacdiNAc(+) is larger than 30% of the amount of LacdiNAc(-) and the subject is determined as being suffering from benign prostatomegaly when the amount of the LacdiNAc(+) is equal to or smaller than 30% of the amount of LacdiNAc(-).