THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ERYTHROCYTE POLYAMINE LEVELS AND THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEUKEMIA

In a study on erythrocyte polyamine levels in 20 leukemia patients and 18 healthy individuals, following results were obtained. Putrescine(Pu) in ery-throcytes was nearly undetectable but in 2 AMoL patients; Spermidine(Spd) level in ALL was higher than the control volue (P 0.1), while that in AMoL and AMMoL was considerably lower as compared to control (P< 0.001); Spermine (Spm) level in all types of leukemia was increased (P<0.001); Spd/Spm ratio was significantly decreased, showing 1.525 in control group, 0.938 in ALL (P<0.025), 0.779 in AML (M1, M2) P< 0.01), 0.319 in APL (P<0.001) and 0.296 in AMoL & AMMoL (P<0.001), and the differences between the Spd/Spm ratio in AMoL and AMMoL and in ALL were noted (P<0.05). These results suggested that determination of erythrocyte polyamines in leukemia patients may be helpful in diagnosis, differential diagnosis and prognosis.