Differential expression of adenosine deaminase isozymes in acute leukemia
H Ratech, F Martiniuk, WZ Borer and H Rappaport
Department of Pathology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia.
Total adenosine deaminase (ADA) and purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP)
activities were measured in cell samples from 13 cases of de novo acute
leukemia and from three cases of chronic myeloid leukemia in blast crisis
(CMLBC). These cases could be separated into lymphoid and nonlymphoid types
on the basis of enzyme activity, with two misclassifications. However, PNP
activity added little or no discriminatory information. Analysis for
expression of the various molecular weight (mol wt) ADA isozymes, ADA1 (40
Kd) and ADA2 (110 Kd), revealed that ADA2 was expressed exclusively in
nonlymphoid cells whereas ADA1 was found in both lymphoid and nonlymphoid
cell types. Identification of ADA2 divided these leukemia cases into
lymphoid and nonlymphoid types with no misclassifications (P = .0002;
Fisher's exact test). Acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL) with a
monocytic component tended to have a greater percentage of ADA2 than ANLL
without a monocytic component. These studies suggest that ADA2 may be a
novel biochemical marker for an immature nonlymphoid cell.
Volume 72,
Issue 5,
pp. 1627-1632,
11/01/1988
Copyright © 1988 by The American Society of Hematology
