Polyadenylic acid polymerase activity in chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Poly(A) polymerase activity was markedly elevated in CML in the blastic phase, moderately high in the accelerated phase and low in the chronic phase. The activity was significantly higher in the myeloid crisis than in the lymphoid crisis and elevated with increasing ratio of blasts in leukemia cases. In TPA or retinoic acid-treated leukemia cells poly(A) polymerase activity was decreased. These results suggest that poly(A) polymerase activity changes, depending on the maturation of leukemic cells and the assay of this enzyme activity may be useful for the early detection of the exacerbation of CML cases.