Nucleotide Levels in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Immunodeficient Children: Problems of Measurement

During collaborative studies of purine metabolism in PNP and ADA deficiency2, we investigated ‘lymphocyte’ (peripheral blood mononuclear cells-PBMs) nucleotide levels and found consistently low ATP:ADP ratios in both patient and controls. Values quoted in the literature for total nucleotides and ATP/ADP ratios also varied widely3,4. For this reason experiments to investigate these differences and establish a range for PBM nucleotide levels in the local population were undertaken.