Deoxynucleoside anabolic enzyme levels in acute myelocytic leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells

The deoxynucleoside kinase reaction is often rate-limiting in the anabolism of pharmacologically active anti-cancer nucleosides. The levels of thymidi ne kinase (TK), deoxycytidine kinase, deoxyguanosine kinase (dGK), and thym idylate kinase were determined in leukocyte extracts from patients with chr onic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and acute myelocytic leukemia (AML). The ex tracts from AML patients showed significantly higher TK activity than the o nes from CLL patients. There were no differences in the levels of the other three kinases. In the case of dGK, the determinations were carried out wit h both an immunoblotting assay and selective enzyme activity measurements. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.