Adenosine Deaminase, Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase and 5′-Nucleotidase Activities in Infectious Mononucleosis

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to study 3 selected purine pathway enzymes in infectious mononucleosis (IM). The enzymes concerned are adenosine deaminase (ADA), purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) and 5′-nucleotidase (5′-N). The enzymes were selected since the absence of these enzymes have been associated with clinically defective lymphoid function (1), and because abnormalities in the activities of ADA and PNP have been observed in leukemia (2,3) In 1974 Quagliata et al. (4) claimed that 5′-N may also be usefull in the biochemical characterization of subgroups of patients with lymphoid leukemia. In the early phase of IM they found a decrease of 5′-N.