Patterns of alpha-L-fucosidase in acute myeloid leukemia cells. Comparison with promyelocytic HL-60 cell line

Changes were observed in alpha-L-fucosidase forms in cells from acute myelocytic leukemias (AML). Total alpha-L-fucosidase activity was not significantly different for normal granulocytes and leukemic cells, but enzymic profiles obtained by chromatofocusing are quite different. In granulocyte profile, two main peaks are present (B and more acidic A) which were eluted at pH 5.2 with a shoulder at pH 4.6. In AMLs the B form is present but weakly expressed, whereas the more acidic forms are the major ones. This pattern may be related either to the malignancy character or to the stage at which the differentiation is stopped. Experiments on an HL-60 cell line (promyelocytic cells corresponding to the AML 3 type) showed that differentiation induced by dimethyl sulfoxide leads to the appearance of the B form present in normal mature cells. Thus the repartition of the enzyme forms seems to be related to the stage of differentiation of the myelocytic cells.