Serum neopterin and kynurenine as predictive and prognostic biomarkers in prostate cancer - the role of dietary inflammatory index and biomarker interactions

Q: Which serum biomarkers were assessed in the prostate cancer study?

The study measured serum neopterin, kynurenine, tryptophan, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) using ELISA, and examined KTR and the dietary inflammatory index (DII).

Q: How did serum neopterin and kynurenine differ between malignant, benign, and control groups?

Serum neopterin and kynurenine levels were higher in the malignant group than in both the control and benign groups, with significant group differences reported (p < 0.05).

Q: Did the dietary inflammatory index (DII) and diet factors show a direct role in prostate cancer diagnosis?

The conclusions state that the findings do not support a direct role of DII and certain dietary factors in the development or diagnosis of prostate cancer, even though DII correlated with neopterin in malignant cases.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi

Study evaluates whether serum neopterin and kynurenine-related metabolites predict and prognose prostate cancer, incorporating the kynurenine-to-tryptophan ratio (KTR) and the dietary inflammatory index (DII). The study enrolls 57 newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients, 55 benign prostatic hyperplasia patients, and 56 healthy men aged 40+. Serum neopterin, kynurenine, tryptophan, TNF-α, and IFN-γ are measured by ELISA. Results show higher malignant-group biomarker levels and neopterin correlations with kynurenine, IFN-γ, and DII, supporting neopterin as a diagnostic and prognostic marker while DII shows no direct role.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Introduction

Icer etal. BMC Cancer (2025) 25:1395 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-025-14300-y](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-025-14300-y) BMC Cancer RESEARCH Open Access Serum neopterin and kynurenineas predictive and prognostic biomarkers in prostate cancer: the role of dietary inflammatory index and biomarker interactions Mehmet Arif Icer1* , Tevfik Koçak2, Nilüfer Acar-Tek3, Suleyman Yesil4 and Yusuf Icer5 Abstract Background It has been shown that neopterin levels in various body fluids can help predict the diagnosis of different malignancies. Although many studies have investigated the roles of serum neopterin concentrations, tryptophan metabolism, and the dietary inflammation index (DII) in various cancers, the connection between these factors and prostate cancer (PC) remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive and prognostic roles of serum neopterin, and kynurenine levels, along with the kynurenine-to-tryptophan ratio (KTR) and DII in prostate cancer. Methods This study was conducted with 57 newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients, 55 benign prostate hyperplasia patients, and 56 healthy male individuals in the control group, all aged 40 years and older. Participants had specific anthropometric measurements taken, and three-day food records were kept. DII was calculated based on data for thirty-four available nutrients by using food records. Serum levels of neopterin, kynurenine, tryptophan, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results Serum neopterin (11 . 79 ± 6 . 09), kynurenine (1655 .48 ± 1122 . 04), TNF-α (221 . 59 ± 232 . 06) and IFN-γ (137 . 68 ± 107 . 11) levels were higher in the malignant group than in both the control (2 . 72 ± 0 . 76, 352.40 ± 69 . 33, 223.94 ± 226 . 67, and 23.03 ± 7 . 28, respectively) and benign groups (3 . 17 ± 0 . 74, 377.94 ± 109 . 05, 179.61 ± 224 . 36, and 25.63 ± 7 . 50, respectively) (p < 0. 05) . Another result of our study is that in the malignant group, serum neopterin levels exhibited significant positive correlations with serum kynurenine (r= 0 . 80, p < 0. 0001), IFN-γ (r= 0 . 86, p < 0. 0001) and TNF-α levels (r= -0 . 27, p = 0 . 0453) and DII (r= 0 . 30, p = 0 . 0229), while they exhibited weak correlations with serum PSA, and other diet parameters. Additionally, kynurenine was the only parameter showing significant differences in mean values concerning surgical margins (p < 0. 05) . Conclusions The findings ofthis study support the hypothesis that serum neopterin and specific tryptophan catabolites (e. g., kynurenine), could serve as predictive and prognostic biomarkers for prostate cancer diagnosis. However, our results do not support the hypothesis that DII and certain dietary factors play a direct role in the development or diagnosis of prostate cancer. Keywords Prostate cancer, Neopterin, Kynurenine, Tryptophan breakdown, Dietary inflammatory index *Correspondence: Mehmet Arif Icer [mehmet.icer@amasya.edu.tr](mehmet.icer@amasya.edu.tr) Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not perm

FAQs

Which serum biomarkers were assessed in the prostate cancer study?

The study measured serum neopterin, kynurenine, tryptophan, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) using ELISA, and examined KTR and the dietary inflammatory index (DII).

How did serum neopterin and kynurenine differ between malignant, benign, and control groups?

Serum neopterin and kynurenine levels were higher in the malignant group than in both the control and benign groups, with significant group differences reported (p < 0.05).

Did the dietary inflammatory index (DII) and diet factors show a direct role in prostate cancer diagnosis?

The conclusions state that the findings do not support a direct role of DII and certain dietary factors in the development or diagnosis of prostate cancer, even though DII correlated with neopterin in malignant cases.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi