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.