5'-Nucleotidase activity in sera from Iraqi children with leukemia

Abstract EN

Background: 5‘-Nucleotidase (5'-NT) is an established plasma membrane marker in many mammalian cells where the enzyme presents as an ectoenzyme and has its active site facing the external medium.

The leukemias are the most common form of childhood cancer.

They account for about one third of new cases of cancer diagnosed each year.

The acute lymphocytic leukemias make up about 76% of cases, with a peak in incidence around the age of 4 yr.

Serum 5'-NT activity varies between different children with leukemia.

Activities of this enzyme were determined in sera from 25 cases of normal children ,21 children with ALL, 5 children with NHL,4 children with ANL, and one case with CML.

Results: The results of this study show about 70.9 % different levels of serum 5'NT in 22/31 Iraqi children with leukemia compared with healthy controls.

Different level of serum 5'NT were found in 15/21 patients with ALL (71.4%), 4/5 children with NHL (80%) and 3/4 children with ANL (75%).

14.2% of children with ALL have a lower 5'NT activity compared with healthy controls, about 57.1% of patients with ALL have an increased value of serum 5’NT activity and 6/21 children have normal value of serum 5’NT activity (28.5%)