Lysosomal arylsulfatases of human leukocytes: increment of phosphorylated B variants in chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Lysosomal arylsulfatases A and B of peripheral leukocytes from patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia and from healthy subjects were studied. Two enzyme activities of leukemia cells were significantly higher than those of cells from healthy subjects, irrespective of total and differential counts of leukemic cells. Upon anion-exchange chromatography, the arylsulfatases of chronic myelogenous leukemia cells and normal leukocytes were separated into the basic B enzyme and its anionic variant (B1) and A enzyme. However, the amount of B1 enzyme relative to B enzyme or the activity ratio of B1 enzyme to total arylsulfatase B (B + B1) was higher in chronic myelogenous leukemia cells than in normal cells. The anionic property of the enzyme was found to be due to phosphate groups bound to the carbohydrate moiety of the arylsulfatase, based on the following results. When B1 enzyme was treated with alkaline phosphatase followed by isoelectric focusing, it was changed to a less anionic enzyme with heterogeneous components which are ascribed to phosphodiester groups linked to the heterogeneous carbohydrate moiety of the enzyme; no effect was observed by sialidase treatment. Upon treatment of B1 enzyme with endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H, which cleaves sugar chains of a high mannose type in glycoproteins, the anionic heterogeneous components were converted to the basic component similar to B enzyme. From our present and previous observations, it can be concluded that the increase of phosphorylated forms of the lysosomal hydrolase represents one characteristic of rapidly proliferating neoplastic cells.