ABSTRACT
Ten samples of lymphocytes coming from patients affected by chronic lymphatic leukemia and ten samples from normal subjects were studied by FT-IR spectroscopy. Spectral differences observed between the two kinds of cells correspond to an increase of the intensities, in the leukemic samples with respect to the normal ones, of the bands corresponding mainly to PO2- symmetrical and asymmetrical stretching vibrations of DNA. The ratios of the integrated areas of the band at 1080 cm-1 mainly involving the symmetrical stretching vibration of the O-P-O linkages of DNA, and of the band at 1540 cm-1, due to the proteic components of the lymphocytes, assume different values for the two kinds of cells. These ratios can constitute an additional marker to diagnose chronic lymphatic leukemia and may be usefully employed to evidence the early phases of the disease.
