A preliminary study of polyamines in the bone-marrow plasma of adult patients with leukemia.

Polyamines (mainly putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) whose biosynthesis is a prerequisite for cell proliferation, are potential indicators of malignant growth. To investigate the mechanism of alterations of polyamine levels in physiological fluids in human cancer, polyamine levels of bone-marrow plasma from adult patients with leukemia were studied. Significant correlations were observed between bone-marrow cellularity and spermidine, between peripheral white blood cell counts and spermidine and spermine, and between absolute blast count and spermidine and spermine among untreated patients with acute leukemia. Untreated patients with chronic leukemia showed significantly elevated levels of polyamines relative to untreated patients with acute leukemia, indicating a higher turnover of bone-marrow cells in chronic leukemia than in acute leukemia. Chemotherapy-treated patients with acute leukemia who were in remission or who did not respond to the agent showed low polyamine levels. Patients who showed a destruction of tumor cell during chemotherapy gave high levels of polyamines. Overall, these studies indicate that elevated polyamine levels are markers of cell death.