Clinical Study on Aldolase Isozyme

Part II: Aldolase isozyme in the sera and tissues of the patients with malignant tumor

Abstract

The aldolase activities toward Fructose-1, 6-diphosphate (FDP-ALD) and Fructose-1-phosphate (FIP-ALD) were assayed by the method of spectrophotometric measurement of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) at 340mμ in the sera of the patients with malignant tumor. Zone electrophoresis of aldolase isozyme in the supernatant fluid from the homogenates of normal human liver, skeletal muscle and human hepatoma was carried out on cellulose acetate strips.
The results were the following:
1. The electrophoretic patterns of aldolase isozyme from the hepatoma were nearly the same as those from skeletal muscle and different from those from normal liver using both substrates.
2. Seventy-three percent of the patients with malignant tumor showed significant increase of FDP-ALD/FIP-ALD activity ratio (FDP/FIP) in comparison with FDP/FIP of normal human serum. This fact suggested that this enzyme in the circulation was released from the malignant tissue.
3. The grade of increase in FDP-ALD activity was almost the same in the sera of the patients with malignant tumor but the decrease in FIP-ALD activity was different. FIP-ALD activity was slightly increased in the serum of the patient with hepatoma but decreased in the sera of the patients with other malignant tumor in comparison with those in the normal human serum. From these results, it is possible to differentiate the patient with hepatoma from the patients with other malignant tumor.
4. FIP-ALD activity in the serum of the patient with gastric cancer with liver metastasis was higher than that in the serum of the patient with gastric cancer without liver metastasis.