GUANOSINE DIPHOSPHATE-L-FUCOSE PLASMA - N-ACETYLGLUCOSAMINIDE FUCOSYLTRANSFERASE AS IN INDEX OF BONE-MARROW HYPERPLASIA AFTER CHEMOTHERAPY

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  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 38  (1) , 181-184
Abstract
The plasma level of a fucosyltransferase was measured in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia and non-Hodgkin''s lymphoma at various stages of the disease and normal controls. This enzyme transfers the sugar fucose from a GDP-L-fucose donor to high molecular weight acceptors with a terminal N-acetylglucosamine residue. The enzyme levels of fucosyltransferase in individuals free from disease and patients with untreated leukemia or lymphoma were comparable. A substantial increase in plasma enzyme level was measured during drug-induced remissions, 3 wk after drug therapy. The enzyme level fell to the normal range during unmaintained remissions in patients with lymphomas. Comparable information for the leukemia is not available since all remissions were drug maintained. These data, together with microscopic examination of marrow samples, indicate that the level of this fucosyltransferase is correlated with regeneration of a normal marrow population after chemotherapy. The enzyme assay may prove useful in defining normal bone marrow recovery and in timing cyclic combination chemotherapy in patients with neoplastic disease.