Serum Hexosamine Levels in Health and Disease * by Sara Weiden

Hexosamine is a normal component of serum mucoprotein and its level may be regarded as an index of total mucoprotein which includes a, , and y globulins, fibrinogen, "seroglycoid," and cseromucoid." Interest in seromucoids was greatly enhanced when it was found by West and Clarke (1938) and others that in acute and chronic infections, in malignancy, and in a number of endocrine disturbances, the hexosamine and inferentially the mucoid fractions increased above the normal range. Raised serum hexosamine levels have been found in patients suffering from infection and disseminated malignant disease (West and Clarke, 1938 ; Weisbrod, 1950), in rheumatic fever (Rosenberg and Schloss, 1949; Kelley, 1952), in rheumatoid arthritis and asthma (Jimenez Diaz, Aguirre, and Arjona, 1953), and in pneumonia (Nilsson, 1937; Faber, 1948). The plasma hexosamine level also increases after extensive trauma (Schlamowitz, de Graff and Schubert, 1950; Boas and Peterman, 1953 ; West and Clarke, 1938). In this paper, a systematic study has been made of serum hexosamine levels both in normal people and in a wide range of pathological conditions, in order to determine whether the presence of a high serum hexosamine level could be used as an indication of certain pathological states.