title: Assessment of circulating proteasome chymotrypsin-like activity in plasma of patients with acute and chronic leukemias.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated whether the proteasomal chymotrypsin-like (ChT-L) activity is increased in plasma of patients with acute lymphoblastic (ALL), acute myeloblastic (AML) and chronic lymphocytic (CLL) leukemias.
  
  
  METHODS
  The activity was assayed using the fluorogenic peptide substrate in the presence of an artificial activator sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in the plasma of healthy donors (n=15) and ALL (n=15), AML (n=28) and CLL (n=22) patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The activity was significantly (P<0.001) higher in the plasma of ALL and AML patients at the diagnosis than in healthy subjects and decreased after therapy or remained unchanged or rose during relapse. By contrast, in CLL patients at the diagnosis, the activity did not differ significantly from the healthy controls. In each group, the activity positively correlated with the serum lactic dehydrogenase activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Plasma proteasome ChT-L activity can be a useful bio-marker for patients with acute leukemia at the blast stage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Medical University of Bialystok, Kilinskiego 1, 15-089 Bialystok, Poland. osthal@umwb.edu.pl
authors.forename: Halina
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ostrowska
authors.forename: Dominika
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hempel
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holub
authors.forename: Jaroslaw
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sokolowski
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kloczko
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002918:Chymotrypsin / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006868:Hydrolysis / Q000187:drug effects; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D007938:Leukemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / Q000097:blood*; D061988:Proteasome Inhibitors; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000378:metabolism; D012967:Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D061988:Proteasome Inhibitors; D021122:Protein Subunits; D012967:Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D002918:Chymotrypsin; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex; C078846:epoxomicin