title: Sialyltransferase activity in leukemia.
abstract: Sialyltransferase activity in blasts from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was markedly lower (1.68 +/- 1.23 pmol/mg protein) than those (6.18 +/- 2.22 pmol/mg protein) of lymphocytes from normal volunteers (t less than 0.001). On the contrary, enzyme activity was significantly increased in blasts (1.21 +/- 0.38 pmol/mg protein) from acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia, compared to the level (0.53 +/- 0.32 pmol/mg protein) of mature granulocytes (t less than 0.001). In TdT-negative CML in blast crisis, sialytransferase activity (2.11 +/- 0.88 pmol/mg protein) was significantly higher than those of mature granulocytes (t less than 0.001), whereas no significant difference in the enzyme activity was noted between the blasts from TdT-positive CML in blast crisis and from ALL. In TdT-positive ALL cases, there was an inverse relationship (r = -0.85, t less than 0.01) between sialytransferase activity and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) activity of the blasts. Therefore, sialytransferase in leukocytes may be a unique enzyme in which changes in activity relate to the differentiation or malignant transformation of leukocytes.
mesh_terms: D004253:DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000201:enzymology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000201:enzymology*; D012799:Sialyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D014166:Transferases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014166:Transferases; D012799:Sialyltransferases; D004253:DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase