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Behavior of Activities of Thymidine Metabolizing Enzymes in Human Leukemia-Lymphoma Cells¹

First Department of Internal Medicine, Kagawa Medical School, Ikenobe, Miki, Kagawa, 761-07, Japan

The behavior of the activities of thymidine metabolizing enzymes, dihydrothymine dehydrogenase (EC 1.3.1.2) and thymidine phosphorylase (EC 2.4.2.4) for thymidine degradation, thymidine kinase (EC 2.7.1.75) and thymidylate synthase (EC 2.1.1.45) for DNA synthesis, was elucidated in cytosolic extracts from normal human lymphocytes and 13 human leukemia-lymphoma cell lines. In the normal human lymphocytes, the activities of dihydrothymine dehydrogenase, thymidine phosphorylase, thymidine kinase, and thymidylate synthase were 6.88, 796, 0.30, and 0.29 nmol/h/mg protein, respectively. In leukemia-lymphoma cell lines, the activities of synthetic enzymes, thymidine kinase, and thymidylate synthase, increased two- to 79-fold and 22- to 407-fold of the normal lymphocyte values. In contrast, the activities of the catabolic enzymes, dihydrothymine dehydrogenase and thymidine phosphorylase, decreased to 5–42% and 3–38% of the values of normal lymphocytes. As a result, the ratio of activities of thymidine kinase/dihydrothymine dehydrogenase was elevated by 7- to 1170-fold, respectively. Thus, reciprocal behavior in the activities of the opposing enzymes in thymidine metabolism was observed in human leukemia-lymphoma cells.

Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against dihydrothymine dehydrogenase were prepared and studies on immunotitration of this enzyme with these antibodies showed that the enzyme protein amount in Jurkat leukemic cells was 36% of that of normal lymphocytes. This was in good agreement with the decrease in the activity of the enzyme to 32%, indicating that the decrease in activity in the leukemic cells was due to the decline in the amount of enzyme protein.

The metabolic imbalances in thymidine utilization appear to be characteristic of human leukemia-lymphoma cells. These observations should confer selective advantages to the lymphoproliferating cells and mark out the catabolic, as well as the synthetic, enzymes as important targets in the design of chemotherapy.

¹ This investigation was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan (59480265).

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 8/22/88. Revised 11/14/88. Accepted 12/ 1/88.