Glycosyltransferase activities in leukemic cells from patients and human leukemic cell lines

The cell membrane fraction from c-ALL, B-ALL, Ph' + ALL, B-CLL, T-CLL, AML, blastic-CML, normal leukocytes, PHA-stimulated lymphocytes and several T, B and myeloid human leukemic cell lines has been used in different cell types to demonstrate different patterns of glycosyltransferase activity. Both B- and T-CLL cell membranes have low fucosyltransferase B and A activity compared to acute leukemias; while sialyltransferase activity is higher in B- than in T-CLL. AML cell membranes and ML-1 human myeloblast cell line membranes have exceptionally high fucosyltransferase A activity compared to all other leukemic cells or cell lines. Human leukemic B cell lines expressed cell membrane sialyltransferase, fucosyltransferase B and probably fucosyltransferase A activity several times higher than T cell lines. Human myeloid cell lines ML-1 and HL-60 express 5- to 20-fold higher galactosyltransferase activity than human leukemic T and B cell lines. Both sialyltransferase and galactosyltransferase activity were higher in all leukemic cells than in normal leukocytes and PHA-stimulated normal lymphocytes. This is the first study carried out on glycosyltransferases using cells obtained from leukemic patients characterized immunologically. These results indicate that all glycosyltransferase activity, with the exception of fucosyltransferase activity in CLL, were higher in leukemic cells than in normal cells. Moreover, large differences in these enzymes, e.g. very high galactosyltransferase activity in myeloid cell lines compared to B and T cell lines, of fucosyltransferase A in AML and myeloblast cell lines compared to all other cells, and of sialyltransferase in B-CLL or B cell lines compared to T-CLL or T cell lines, could be useful in characterizing certain leukemias and hematopoietic cell lines.