Significance of altered alpha-2-L-fucosyltransferase levels in serum of leukemic patients
Skacel, P.O.; Watkins, W.M.
Cancer Research 48(14): 3998-4001
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0008-5472 PMID: 3164255 Document Number: 309424
Serum alpha-2-L-fucosyltransferase levels were measured in 20 patients with leukemia. Lower than normal levels were found in patients with acute leukemia and higher than normal activity was demonstrated in patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia. alpha-2-L-Fucosyltransferase activity is expressed in platelets, and in both groups of leukemic patients this enzyme activity in serum was found to correlate directly with the platelet count. Assays on platelets from normal donors and from leukemic patients showed that the changes in level of the enzyme in serum result from changes in platelet numbers and not from alterations in the cellular expression of the transferase in leukemia. alpha-2-L-Fucosyltransferase levels in serum are therefore not per se diagnostic markers of leukemia.