31P NMR of Phospholipid Metabolites in Prostate Cancer and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Richard A. Komoroski¹, John C. Holder², Alex A. Pappas², Alex E. Finkbeiner², Sadhna Verma¹

Although ³¹P NMR is an excellent method for probing the phospholipid (PL) metabolites in prostate cancer, it has been little used recently. We report an in vitro ³¹P NMR comparison of prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), focusing on the levels of major PL metabolites. Unlike phosphocholine (pc) and glycerophosphocholine (gpc), phosphoethanolamine (pe) and glycerophosphoethanolamine (gpe) (and their ratio) were significantly different between cancer and BPH. The levels of pe and gpe relative to those of pc and gpc are consistent with the former being major contributors to the total choline resonance observed by ¹H MRS in vivo.