Polyamine profiles in the urine of patients with leukemia

Abstract

Eleven urinary polyamine levels were determined in controls (32 cases) and 43 patients with varying stages of leukemia including initial, relapse and complete remission, using gas chromatography nitrogen-phosphorus detection. Also, to indirectly evaluate the possible involvement of enzymes, precursor to product concentration ratios were compared between controls and patients with each stage of leukemia. As a result, it is confirmed that the ratio of N-1-acSpd/N-8-acSpd could be used as a diagnostic marker and the level of N-1,N-12-diacetylspermine could be used for determining disease stage and as a malignancy marker for leukemia. An altered metabolic pathway related to leukemia is also proposed in which N-1,N-12-diacetylspermine can be produced directly from spermine and N-1,N-12-diacetylspermine is a major source of N-1-acetylspermidine. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.