Elevated serum alpha(1----3)-L-fucosyltransferase activity with synthetic low molecular weight acceptor in human ovarian cancer.

Serum alpha(1----3)-L-fucosyltransferase activity was measured in 29 ovarian cancer patients with active disease, 26 ovarian cancer patients with no clinical evidence of disease and 23 healthy females. N-Acetyl-2'-O-methyl-lactosamine was used as the acceptor for the enzyme. The level of the enzyme activity was significantly (P less than 0.05) higher in the serum of patients with known tumor when compared to healthy controls and patients with no clinical evidence of disease.