Cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate levels and activities of related enzymes in normal and leukemic lymphocytes.

The role of cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cyclic 3':5'-AMP) in the regulation of cell division in lymphocytes obtained from healthy donors and from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was investigated by determining the levels of cyclic 3':5'-AMP and glycogen and also the activities of several enzymes that are closely associated with the metabolism of these cellular components. Intracellular levels of cyclic 3':5'-AMP were measured in normal and CLL lymphocytes in nondividing, dividing, and quiescent [after phytohemagglutinin (PHA) addition]states. In normal lymphocytes the levels of cyclic 3':5'-AMP fluctuated throughout the cell cycle after PHA addition, whereas in CLL lymphocytes the levels were approximately 3-fold lower than in normal cells and remained relatively constant before, during, and after mitogenic stimulation. Normal cells contained approximately 3-fold lower levels of glycogen than CLL cells, whereas glycogen phosphorylase activities were increased 2- to 4-fold above those in nondividing cells in normal but not in CLL lymphocytes after stimulation with PHA. Furthermore, cyclic 3':5'-AMP phosphodiesterase activities were higher in CLL lymphocytes than in normal ones. Collectively, these studies demonstrated that (a) the intracellular levels of cyclic 3':5'-AMP differ in these two cell types; (b) the levels of cyclic 3':5'-AMP and glycogen qualitatively correlate with the activities of the enzymes that are related to these components; and (c) an inverse relationship between the levels of cyclic 3':5'-AMP and cell growth exists in mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes from healthy donors but not from patients with CLL. These biochemical differences are presumed to exist between normal and "leukemic" lymphocytes, but alternatively they may reflect normal populations of immunologically distinct lymphocytes.