Spectroscopic analysis of the cytoagglutinating activity of abrin-b isolated from Abrus precatorius seeds against leukemic cells.

The cytoagglutinating activity of abrin-b, a toxic lectin isolated from Abrus precatorius seeds, against cultured cell strains derived from acute lymphoblast leukemia (ALL) was investigated by visible (VIS) spectroscopy. Upon addition of abrin-b, the turbidity at 600 nm of cell suspension decreased and this change could be recorded as the cytoagglutination curve. From this curve, the cytoagglutination velocity (CV) and cytoagglutination intensity (CI) of each cell strain was measured. Each cell strain showed the respective CV and CI values and the cell strains derived from the T cell line were strongly agglutinated by abrin-b compared with those derived from the B cell line. Further, it has become apparent that the cytoagglutinating activity increased with an increase in the order of the differentiation of cell strains.