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Urinary 6‐hydroxymethylpterin levels accurately monitor response to chemotherapy in acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Author(s) -
Rao K. Narasimha,
Trehan Sunil,
Shetty P. A.,
Noronha John M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19830415)51:8<1425::aid-cncr2820510816>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - medicine , urinary system , lymphoblast , chemotherapy , acute myeloblastic leukemia , excretion , bone marrow , acute lymphocytic leukemia , acute leukemia , leukemia , oncology , urine , lymphoblastic leukemia , gastroenterology , immunology , genetics , biology , cell culture
We have recently shown that the levels of uninary 6‐hydroxymethylpterin are highly elevated (3 to 20 fold) in a variety of human malignancies as compared to its urinary excretion in patients with nonmalignant diseases or normal healthy subjects. In the subsequent studies, this parameter has been shown to be a reliable index for accurately monitoring the response of patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) during chemotherapy. In this study, the excreted urinary levels of 6‐hydroxymethylpterin as well as the bone marrow lymphoblast values were measured simultaneously in four patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) during antileukemic therapy. Various drug regimens employed for treatment have also been indicated. A good correlation was seen between urinary pterin levels and % blasts during treatment, thus accurately monitoring remission or relapse of the disease in response to the antileukemic therapy. These results again conclusively show that the simple noninvasive determination of 6‐hydroxymethylpterin provides a reliable index of the total tumor load in acute lymphoblastic leukemic cases undergoing treatment.