Elevation of serum polyamines in malignant lymphomas and acute myeloid leukemia

In a study of 89 cases of hematological cancers including 55 cases of Hodgkin's disease, 21 of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 13 of acute myeloid leukemia, the serum total polyamines were considerably elevated (1.2-5.7 nmol/ml) as compared to observations on control values for eight healthy individuals (0.62-0.87 nmol/ml). The assay procedure was based on enzymes oxidizing polyamines isolated from Russell's viper venom. Serial determination of polyamines in the sera of eight cases of Hodgkin's disease done before and after chemotherapy or radiotherapy showed positive correlation with clinical status of the disease. Analysis of individual polyamines in four patients with Hodgkin's disease indicated that putrescine may be a more sensitive marker of the diseased state. By the present method it was undetected in the control sera but rose significantly in the sera of patients with Hodgkin's disease. Overall data suggest that serum polyamines may be useful as indicators of onset of relapse in patients with Hodgkin's disease and could thus be helpful in early start of treatment.