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Biphenotypic acute lymphoblastic leukaemia expressing a pan-T CD2 and a pan-B CD19 antigen is very rare. In this report, we describe three such cases, focusing specially on the variable clinical and laboratory findings. We have also reviewed the literature on this unique form of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia which appears to behave differently to biphenotypic leukaemia coexpressing both myeloid and lymphoid markers.

Incubation of the triazine dye Procion Blue MX-R with L- and M-type pyruvate kinase resulted in rapid time- and dye-concentration-dependent loss of activity. L-type pyruvate kinase was protected only by a low concentration of Mg2+; this was not the case with the M-type enzyme. Modification of the L-type form resulted in the incorporation of 1.54 +/- 0.057 mol of dye/mol of enzyme subunit in the absence of Mg2+, but only 0.73 +/- 0.024 mol of dye/mol of enzyme subunit in the presence of Mg2+. Tryptic peptide mapping of L-type pyruvate kinase modified in the presence and in the absence of Mg2+ further indicated that there were two sites modified in the enzyme, one of which was protected by Mg2+. The pKa of the nucleophile involved in the modification was calculated to be 7.1, implicating the possible involvement of a histidine residue. L-type enzyme was bound to Sepharose-immobilized Procion Blue MX-R specifically in the presence of Mg2+, whereas binding of the M-type enzyme was Mg2+-independent. The specific interaction of L-type pyruvate kinase with the dye was exploited in the large-scale purification of the enzyme and in the isolation of the phosphorylated enzyme.

Hepatocytes were isolated from preweaned neonatal and adult rats and maintained in primary monolayer culture. Cells from preweaned newborns possessed no L-type pyruvate kinase, nor did they synthesize the enzyme. Incubation for 48-72 h in culture medium supplemented with 2 mM-fructose and 0.1 microM-insulin induced the synthesis of L-type pyruvate kinase, as judged by increased enzyme activity and the increased incorporation of [3H]leucine into immunoprecipitable L-type pyruvate kinase. Hepatocytes isolated from 48 h-starved adult rats incorporated less [3H]leucine into L-type pyruvate kinase than did cells isolated from high-carbohydrate-diet-fed rats. The rate of enzyme synthesis by cells from 48 h-starved rats was increased by the inclusion of fructose and insulin in the incubation medium, after a lag phase of 24-48 h. After 4 days in culture in the presence of fructose and insulin, hepatocytes from 48 h-starved rats synthesized L-type pyruvate kinase at similar rates to hepatocytes isolated from high-carbohydrate-diet-fed rats.

The synthesis of a series of SS′-polymethylenebis(methanethiosulphonates) including the pentane, hexane, octane, decane and dodecane derivatives is described. These derivatives were synthesized by condensation between dibromoalkanes and potassium methanethiosulphonate in refluxing methanol and this seems an especially versatile reaction for the synthesis of asymmetric thiosulphonate derivatives. The synthesis of SS′-[1,8-3H4]-octamethylenebis(methanethiosulphonate) was also perfomed. Cross-linking was demonstrated in the four enzymes lactate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. For all four enzymes cross-linking was efficiently reversed by reducing conditions in denaturing solvents. The reaction with glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase was unique in that only the cross-linked dimer was produced in significant amounts (greater than 90% of total products as dimer). This reaction was followed in detail with radioactive cross-linking reagent. Inhibition of enzyme activity was extremely fast and showed an asymmetric distribution of enzyme activity on subunits. Thus complete modification of only one subunit resulted in up to 75% inhibition of enzyme activity. Reaction of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase with 1.25 mol of SS′-octamethylenebis(methanethiosulphonate) per mol of enzyme subunit produced two species of protein. The first species was obtained in 20% yield and was only partially re-activated on mild reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol. The second species was isolated in 66% yield and was completely re-activated on mild reduction. Before reduction there was 4 mol of inhibitor per tetramer for the latter species, and more than 95% of the enzyme was present as a dimer on non-reducing electrophoresis. After mild reduction 2 mol of inhibitor was still bound per tetramer, the enzyme was now catalytically active and the dimer was still the major structure on non-reducing electrophoresis. Thus mild reduction of SS′-octamethylenebis(methanethiosulphonate-treated glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase enabled the production of active enzyme in which there is a stable cross-link across one of the molecular axes of the tetrameric enzyme. This cross-link was only reversed if reduction was performed when the enzyme was denatured. The molecular weight of cross-linked and re-activated cross-linked glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase was established as 144000 (tetramer) by sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation. These observations are interpreted in terms of the molecular structure of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase.