Alteration of intraerythrocyte proteolytic degradation of hemoglobin during Hodgkin's disease.

The erythrocyte lysate samples obtained from 10 healthy donors (aged of 23 +/- 12 years) and 16 patients with Hodgkin's disease (aged of 39 +/- 25 years) with the following histological types: 12 mixed cellularity and 4 nodular sclerosis, were studied. Patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) were randomly selected before, during or after the completion of combined chemotherapy. A comparative analysis of peptide components of erythrocyte lysate samples of HD patients and healthy donors was carried out. The amino acid sequences of 4 peptides, corresponding to fragments 1-33, 1-32, 1-31 and 1-30 of human hemoglobin (Hb) alpha-chain were determined. Increase of the content of two fragments corresponding to 1-31 and 1-32 amino acid residues of alpha-globin were detected for HD patients. The link between the normal process of proteolytic degradation and those occurring during HD is proposed. The possibility of using the identified alterations recorded during HD diagnosis is discussed.