[Lysozymes. Results and problems]

[Studies of lysozyme activity in serum, urine and blood smears from patients with haematological diseases]

Lysozyme activity was studied in blood smears, serum, and urine of patients suffering from leukaemia or other haematological diseases. Increased enzyme activity was found in myelocytic, myelomonocytic and monocytic leukaemia and equally in secondary granulocytosis and polycythaemia vera. Reduced rates were found in lymphocytie leukaemia, malignant lymphoma with bone marrow involvement, and myelophthisic conditions. A rise in urinary lysozyme occurred when the serum level exceeded 50 microgram/ml. Abundant activities were found in myelomonocytic and monocytic leukaemias. Using the bacteriolytic method in blood smears, no enzyme activity was demonstrated in cells of acute or chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, in monocytic leukaemia however, almost all cells show strong reaction. In acute myelocytic or myelomonocytic leukaemia, the portion of positive cells changes from case to case depending on the degree of cell differentiation and maturation. In chronic myelocytic leukaemia there was no difference as compared to enzyme activity of myelocytes in bone marrow of control cases. Thus the bacteriolytic demonstration of lysozyme in blood smears may additionally contribute to distinction of different types of blastic leukaemias, and serum lysozyme also may allow more reliable insight into granulocytic and monocytic myelopoiesis than morphologic studies of blood or bone marrow smears can do, e.g. in agranulocytosis and pancytopenia.