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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1976 Apr;73(4):1319–1322. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.4.1319

Cancer-associated isoenzyme of serum galactosyltransferase.

M M Weiser, D K Podolsky, K J Iselbacher
PMCID: PMC430259  PMID: 1063413

Abstract

Galactosyltransferase activity was assayed in sera from 58 patients with various types of cancer. On discontinuous polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis a slow-moving peak of galactosyltransferase activity (isoenzyme II) was found to be present in the serum of 43 of these patients in addition to the major isoenzyme I. Isoenzyme II was found in only 2 of 39 patients with various nonmalignant disorders and was not detected in the serum of 22 normal control subjects. There was no correlation between the presence of this electrophoretically distinct isoenzyme and total serum galactosyltransferase activity, alkaline phosphatase, levels of carcinoembryonic antigen, or blood type. However, patients with widespread metastases had significantly higher isoenzyme II levels than those with no metastases or with limited local spread. Further studies will be necessary to evaluate the clinical usefulness of this serum galactosyltransferase isoenzyme in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with neoplastic disease.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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