RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Biochemical enzyme analysis in acute leukaemia.
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 117
OP 127
DO 10.1136/jcp.38.2.117
VO 38
IS 2
A1 H G Drexler
A1 G Gaedicke
A1 J Minowada
YR 1985
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/38/2/117.abstract
AB This report summarises the current knowledge regarding the clinical utility of biochemical enzyme markers for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in acute leukaemia. The enzymes studied most extensively in this field are terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, adenosine deaminase, 5'-nucleotidase, purine nucleoside phosphorylase, and acid phosphatase, esterase, hexosaminidase isoenzymes. For each enzyme, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics in various immunologically defined subclasses of acute leukaemia are described. The quantitative evaluation of enzyme activities represents an adjunctive classification technique which should be incorporated into the multivariate analysis, the "multiple marker analysis." By qualitative characterisation pronounced heterogeneity of leukaemia subsets is uncovered. The application of 2'-deoxycoformycin, a specific inhibitor of adenosine deaminase, and the potential usefulness of two other enzymes as targets for treatment with selective agents is discussed. The concept that gene products expressed at certain developmental stages of normal cells can similarly be detected in leukaemic cells (which therefore seem to be "frozen" or "arrested" at this particular maturation/differentiation stage) is supported by the results obtained in enzyme studies. Besides their practical clinical importance for classification and treatment of acute leukaemias, biochemical enzyme markers constitute a valuable research tool to disclose biological properties of leukaemic cells.