Serum prostatic specific antigen (PA), Γ-seminoprotein (Γ-Sm) and prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) were evaluated in 141 patients with prostatic cancer, 121 of whom were newly diagnosed. Of the 121 untreated patients, 77, 71 and 67% were detectable by the PA, Γ-Sm and PAP markers, respectively. PA was equally or more sensitive in all stages than the other two markers. Using the benign prostatic hypertrophy group (131 patients) as a negative control, the specificities of PA, Γ-Sm and PAP were 89, 76 and 83%, respectively. Combination of PA, Γ-Sm and PAP increased sensitivity to 86%, especially in localized disease (stages A, B and C) to 74%, but did not improve specificity (67%) or efficiency (76%). During the follow-up period of 1–53 months, 24 of 141 patients with prostatic cancer had disease progression. All serial levels of Γ-Sm, PA, and PAP were positive in 17, 12 and 10 of the 24 patients within 6 months prior to detectable disease progression. Γ-Sm appeared to be more sensitive than the other two markers for early detection of disease progression. These results suggest that PA and Γ-Sm are reliable markers for detection and monitoring of prostatic cancer.