Li X, et al. – The aim of this study was to assess the clinical potential of urine prostatic exosomal protein (PSEP) as a diagnostic biomarker of chronic prostatitis (CP). It was concluded that urine PSEP could be a potential biomarker for CP.

Methods

• Applying an enzyme–linked immunosorbent assay kit, researchers detected urine PSEP levels in 103 control cases as well as 283 cases of CP, with 82 cases fulfilling the definition of the USA National Institutes of Health category II (NIH–II), 108 cases of NIH–IIIa and 93 cases of NIH–IIIb.
• They examined values of age, body mass index, prostate volume, serum prostatic specific antigen (PSA) urine PSEP levels, and seminal parameters.

Results

• The data showed that PSEP levels were significantly higher in patients of NIH–II (2.09 [2.35] ng/mL), NIH–IIIa (1.80 [2.95] ng/mL) and NIH–IIIb (1.64 [2.48] ng/mL) compared to the value of 0.24 (0.76) ng/mL in the controls. ROC distinguished a cutoff value of 1.387 ng/mL, with a sensitivity of 59.0% and specificity of 94.2%.
• It was noted that area under the ROC curve was 0.833.
• The obtained data indicate that PSEP levels positively associated with serum PSA levels in the NIH–IIIb group, and with EPS WBC count in the NIH–IIIa group, and with semen WBC count in each CP subgroups but negatively correlated with sperm motility in both the NIH–IIIa group and the NIH–IIIb group.