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M Massaia, DD Ma, M Boccadoro, F Golzio, P Gavarotti, U Dianzani and A Pileri
Ecto-5'nucleotidase (5'NT) activity of peripheral blood (PB) lymphocytes
was determined in 31 patients with serum monoclonal gammopathies (MG).
Twenty-one patients had a diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM), and ten
patients had monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). The
proliferative activity of the bone marrow plasma cells (LI%) was
investigated in 28 of these MG patients by means of tritiated thymidine
uptake evaluated by simultaneous autoradiography and cytoplasmic
immunofluorescence. 5'NT activity was significantly lower in MG patients as
compared with normal controls. MM patients had lower 5'NT activity than
MGUS patients, but the difference was not significant. By contrast, MM had
significantly higher LI% than MGUS patients. There was a linear regression
of 5'NT on LI% which was statistically significant: the higher the LI%, the
lower the 5'NT. Because the LI% is an accurate prognostic and monitoring
factor in MG, this correlation indicates that 5'NT may be of assistance in
predicting the clinical progress of MG patients. In seven MGs, the PB T and
B lymphocytes were studied separately. The T cell subpopulation was 5'NT
deficient compared to the normal controls, shown as a significant linear
regression of T cell 5'NT on the LI%. This suggests that in MG there may be
an alteration of nonneoplastic T lymphocytes correlated with tumor growth.
The OKT8+ lymphocytes were mainly responsible for the 5'NT deficiency of
unseparated T lymphocytes.
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| Copyright © 1985 by American Society of Hematology Online ISSN: 1528-0020 | |||||||||
