Hypercalcemia in chronic myelogenous leukemia: evidence for excessive parathyroid hormone secretion

Hypercalcemia was associated with osteolytic bone lesions in a 60-year-old woman with chronic myelogenous leukemia in the accelerated phase. Using highly specific antisera to parathyroid hormone, radioimmunoassays disclosed elevated levels of carboxyl-terminal (53-84) and intermediate (44-68) fragments. In addition, concomitant variations of serum calcium level and leukocyte counts, increased urinary c-AMP excretion, morphological integrity of parathyroid glands, and absence of bone resorbing activity in myeloblast culture supernatants are consistent with the hypothesis that the humoral hypercalcemia was due to the excessive production of PTH. This production may have been ectopic, although no PTH secretion was demonstrated in myeloblast culture supernatants.