Evaluation of lipid-bound sialic acid tumor marker in sera of acute lymphocytic (ALL) patients

Abdul Wahab R. Hamad Ph.D. (1) Nazar G.A. Talabani Ph.D. (2) Fawaz Al-Swad Ph.D (3) ABSTRACT Background: Lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) concentration was determined in the sera of 90 patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and 50 controls (30 normal subjects and 20 chronic non-malignant diseases). The aim of this work is to determine the reference values for serum sialic acid in healthy subjects and in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Materials and Method: All of serum sample were collected by venepuncture and kept frozen (-20 C°) until analyzed, then a spectrophotometric technique is used for the estimation of the concentration of sialic acid marker in sera. Results: The mean sialic concentration in healthy individuals was 132 mg/ml and that in chronic non-malignant disease was 171.1 mg/ml, where as, the concentration of (LSA) in 90 cancer patients with (ALL) was 270.3 mg/ml. Conclusion: Both cancer patients with (ALL) and patients with chronic non-tumor disease can cause an elevation in the concentration of sialic acid values in serum as compared to healthy individuals.