BACKGROUND The group A meningococcal conjugate vaccine, PsA-TT, uses tetanus toxoid (TT) as a carrier protein (PsA-TT). TT as a carrier protein in other conjugate vaccines is known to be immunogenic and generates a robust anti-TT response. METHODS Clinical studies in Africa assessed whether PsA-TT generated tetanus serologic responses when tested in African populations (toddlers to adults). S...

BACKGROUND Because total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and, more recently, the percent free PSA are used to screen men for prostate cancer, population-based, age- and race-specific distributions are needed of both PSA tests among American men to estimate the effect of lowering the PSA threshold or widespread introduction of the free PSA test as an additional screening test. METHODS We did P...

Although the value of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) velocity or doubling time has never been seriously questioned for aiding the clinical management of recurrent or advanced cancer, there has historically been considerable uncertainty about PSA kinetics for decisions about biopsy and initial treatment. Recent studies, including analyses of cohorts from all the major randomized trials of local...

PURPOSE Prostate biopsy is used to confirm the prostate cancer. Although first biopsy result was benign, repeat biopsy is recommended for the patient who has higher risk of prostate cancer. In this study, we investigated the PSA change ratio (post-biopsy PSA to baseline PSA) whether it could be predictive factor of prostate cancer and helpful when decided to perform repeat biopsy. MATERIALS A...

BACKGROUND The proportion of free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is higher in the sera of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia compared with patients with prostate cancer (PCa). We developed an immunoassay that measures intact, free PSA forms (fPSA-I), but does not detect free PSA that has been internally cleaved at Lys145-Lys146 (fPSA-N), and investigated whether this form could discrim...

Pettersson et a!. recently reported that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) corn-plexed to a1-antichymotrypsin (PSA-ACT) is unstable in aqueous solutions [1]. Recognizing the usefulness of PSA-ACT calibrators, given that most of the PSA in male serum is in the complexed form, they pointed out that establishment of optimal conditions for preparation and storage of PSA-AGT complexes to prevent disso...

BACKGROUND The total prostate-specific antigen (t-PSA) in serum measured by PSA assays represents the sum of free (f-PSA) and PSA complexed with alpha 1-antichymotrypsin. The f-PSA/t-PSA (F/T) ratio in prostate cancer (PCA) patients is lower than in patients suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This review summarizes the current literature on the clinical relevance of measurement ...