Aberrant ribonucleotide pattern in lymphoid cells from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia or non-Hodgkin...

The intracellular purine and pyrimidine ribonucleotide concentrations were determined in lymphoid cells from peripheral blood of 16 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and from peripheral blood and/or lymphoid tissue of 18 patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Compared to normal peripheral lymphocytes, the lymphoid cells from CLL patients contained lower, and those from NHL patients higher amounts of nucleotides. The lymphoid cells of NHL patients showed an imbalance in the nucleotide pool compared to either normal resting peripheral or proliferating tonsillar lymphocytes. The lymphoid cells of patients with CLL showed an imbalance only when compared to normal, resting peripheral lymphocytes. The abnormalities in the nucleotide pools involved decreased ratios of purine:pyrimidine, adenine:guanine and uracil:cytosine nucleotides. Lymphocytes from CLL and NHL patients contained increased amounts (relative and/or absolute) of UDP sugars, and NHL lymphocytes also showed a changed composition of the UDP sugars. Analysis of the ribonucleotides in the lymphoid cells provides useful information for the differential diagnosis of patients suspected of having CLL or NHL, and may be valuable for the design of new chemotherapeutic regimens.