ABSTRACT
We measured alpha(1----3)-L-fucosyltransferase (alpha 13FT) activity in human plasma samples obtained from a group of 111 patients with malignant diseases, 86 patients with benign diseases, and 58 healthy controls using a newly developed assay method (Clin. Chem., 37: 2081-2086, 1991). The cutoff value was arbitrarily set at 73 units/ml (mean +/- 3SD of results for healthy controls). Forty-one of the 111 (36.9) plasma samples from patients with cancer showed high enzyme activity, and twelve of the 86 (13.6%) samples from patients with benign diseases were above the cutoff value. The levels of alpha 13FT were considerably high in samples obtained from the patients with esophagus, lung, liver and pancreatic and biliary cancer, and corresponding positive rates were 66.7, 64.7, 62.5 and 62.5%, respectively. The elevation of the enzyme activity was found in many samples from advanced cancer, whereas samples from patients with gastric and colon cancer in the clinical stage I showed high positive rates. No correlation was observed between the level of alpha 13FT and tumor--associated antigens such as carcinoembryonic antigen, CA19-9, and sialyl Tn (STN). These results suggest that alpha 13FT activity measured by the present assay method could have a potentiality for a new type of tumor marker.