Prognostic significance of serum lysozyme in adult acute myelogenous leukaemia.
Pre-treatment sera from 88 adult patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia have been assayed for their lysozyme content. All 19 patients who presented with a serum-lysozyme level below 15 mug/ml failed to acheive haematological remission from intensive chemotherapy. Serum-lysozyme levels above 85 mug/ml were found in 10 patients, all of whom went into remission. Remissions in this group were, however, shortlived. Of the 59 patients with lysozyme levels between 15 and 85 mug/ml, 39 achieved haematological remission and 12 survived longer than 60 weeks. These findings suggest that estimation of serum-lysozyme may help to identify those patients who are unlikely to respond to the intensive-chemotherapy protocols currently advocated and who could therefore be spared exposure to them.
D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality; D009113:Muramidase / Q000097:blood*; D011379:Prognosis; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D009113:Muramidase