Plasma fucosyltransferase as an indicator of imminent blastic crisis

Abstract

Plasma fucosyltransferase activity was evaluated as an indicator of an impending blastic transformation in 25 patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL). Fifteen age-and sex-matched controls were also studied. The level of enzyme activity was significantly higher in the plasma of patients with blastic transformation (1,630 +/- 570 units) compared with steady chronic granulocytic leukemia (509 +/- 110 units) and normal controls (354 +/- 57 units). In three patients with CGL, a rise in fucosyltransferase activity preceded any other clinical or laboratory parameter of blastic transformation by 16-20 weeks.

α1,3-L-Fucosyltransferase Expression in Developing Human Myeloid Cells

“…High levels of ␣1,3-fucosyltransferase activity are expressed in human leukemic myeloblasts (12)(13)(14) and the finding of even higher levels in normal bone marrow cells (15) suggests that the activity in the leukemic blasts is a reflection of the stage of maturation arrest of the cells. Earlier studies on partially purified preparations of ␣1,3-fucosyltransferases isolated from granulocytes from healthy individuals and from patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, indicated that two different species of this enzyme are expressed in myeloid cells since the preparation from the leukemic cells utilized substrates containing terminal 3Ј-sialyl-N-acetyllactosamine groupings to only a very limited extent, whereas the preparation from mature granulocytes had a much greater capacity to make sialyl-Le x determinant sequences (16).…”