Inverse relationship between myeloid maturation and leukotriene C4 synthase expression in normal and leukemic myelopoiesis-consistent overexpression of the enzyme in myeloid cells from patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Objective: Leukotriene (LT) C(4) synthase (LTC(4)S) is the key enzyme in the biosynthesis of LTC(4), which has been reported to stimulate the growth of human myeloid progenitor cells and is specifically overproduced in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The aim of this study was to clarify the expression of LTC(4)S during normal and leukemic myelopoiesis and to investigate the correlation between abnormal LTC(4)S expression in CML myeloid cells and the activity of the disease-specific tyrosine kinase p210 BCR-ABL.

Materials And Methods: Immature and mature myeloid cell subpopulations were isolated with magnetic cell sorting from healthy volunteer bone marrow (n = 11) and CML patient peripheral blood (n = 8), respectively.