ABSTRACT
Serum uric acid, red cell SOD and catalase activities were determined in 117 patients acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, chronic myelocytic leukaemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, polycythemia vera and multiple myeloma in comparison to 40 healthy normal subjects. About 6-40 percent of these patients had serum uric acid level over 7 mg/dl. Altogether, 14 patients had hyperuricaemia, therefore they were grouped together. There was a reverse relationship between serum uric acid level and SOD activity in these patients. The hyperuricaemia is a result of increased proliferation and destruction of tumour cells which stimulates the generation of superoxide radicals. Therefore, red cell SOD will be decreased in patients with hyperuricaemia. In order to compensate for an elevated oxidant stress, SOD will therefore increase. These findings could explain the variable results of red cell SOD reported earlier in patients with malignancy of haematological origin. There was no relationship between serum uric acid and red cell catalase activity in these patients.