MENINGEAL INVOLVEMENT IN ACUTE-LEUKEMIA AND HIGH-GRADE NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA IS ASSOCIATED WITH ELEVATED ACTIVITIES OF GALACTOSYLTRANSFERASES IN THE CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID

Background: Galactosyltransferases (Gal-T) are intracellular and cell surface enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of glycoconjugates. Gal-T were suggested to be implicated in oncogenesis, since their levels ar e elevated in various body fluids of patients with different types of malignoma; the invasiveness of certain neoplastic cell lines is correl ated with their cell surface Gal-T activities, and cancer-associated G al-T-isoforms were identified. Material and Methods: Gal-T activities in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with meningeal involvemen t in acute leukaemia or high-grade lymphoma (n = 8); normal controls ( n = 54), patients with acute viral meningitis/encephalitis (n = 8) and multiple sclerosis (n = 10) were compared. CSF Gal-T activities were measured with uridine diphosphate-C-14-galactose as substrate after is olation of the enzymatically transferred C-14-galactose by high-voltag e electrophoresis. Simultaneously, the permeability of the blood-CSF b arrier was analysed by the Q-albumin method. Results: In case of an in tact blood-CSF barrier, Gal-T activities were elevated exclusively in patients with meningeal involvement in malignancies, but declined rapi dly during intrathecal polychemotherapy. Conclusions: CSF Gal-T activi ties might prove to be a marker for early or residual involvement of t he central nervous system in acute leukaemia or high-grade lymphoma.