Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 214(1)

Potential Use of the Macrobrachium Rosenbergii Lectin for Diagnosis of T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

LAURA PÉREZ-CAMPOS-MAYORAL,^1,2 ALEJANDRO RUIZ-ARGÜELLES,² BEATRIZ PÉREZ-ROMANO,² EDGAR ZENTENO,³ PEDRO HERNÁNDEZ-CRUZ,⁴ RUTH MARTÍNEZ-CRUZ,^4,5 MARGARITO MARTÍNEZ-CRUZ,⁴ SOCORRO PINA-CANSECO⁵ and EDUARDO PÉREZ-CAMPOS^4,5

¹Clinical Pathology Laboratory Dr. Eduardo Perez Ortega, Oaxaca, Mexico
²Puebla Clinicals Laboratories (Laboratorios Clinicos de Puebla), Puebla, Mexico
³Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico
⁴Biochemistry and Immunology Unit of Technological Institute of Oaxaca, Mexico
⁵Medical and Biological Research Center, CICIMEBIO, Faculty of Medicine at the Benito Juarez Autonomous University of Oaxaca. UABJO. Oaxaca, Oax, Mexico

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common form of cancer in children. Lectins are proteins or glycoproteins from plants or animals that recognize oligossacharides on the cell surface and have been used to characterize the structural changes of oligosaccharides in leukemias. In this study, we used the lectin from the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium (M. rosenbergii), specific for acetyl groups in sialylated glycans, because increased sialylation of glycoproteins and glycolipids has been identified in lymphoblastic leukemias. We compared the specificity of the M. rosenbergii lectin for lymphoblastic leukemias with the specificities of the lectins from Triticum vulgaris, Solanum tuberosum, Arachis hipogaea, and Phytolacca americana. By morphologic and phenotype characterization with a panel of monoclonal antibodies, we identified four types of leukemias from 106 leukemia patients: 11 cases of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 61 cases of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 24 cases of acute myeloblastic leukemia, and 10 cases of acute biphenotypic leukemia. As determined by cytofluorometric assays, nine of the eleven cases with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (8 ± 3 years old) were specifically identified with the lectin from M. rosenbergii. In contrast, only six cases of B-cell leukemia, one case of myeloblastic leukemia, and 2 cases of biphenotypic leukemia were identified with this M. rosenbergii lectin. The other lectins tested showed no capacity to differentiate, in a significant manner, any of the four types of leukemias tested. Thus, the lectin from M. rosenbergii could be considered a useful tool for the diagnosis and study of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

keywords —— T-cell; Macrobrachium rosenbergii lectin; cytofluorometry; leukemias; sialic acid; glycoproteins.

© 2008 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 214, 11-16

Correspondence: Eduardo Pérez-Campos, Medical and Biological Research Center, CICIMEBIO, Faculty of Medicine at the Benito Juarez Autonomous University of Oaxaca, UABJO, CP 68020 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico.

e-mail: perezcamposcicimebio@yahoo.es, laboratory@prodigy.net.mx