Abstract
The relation between terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) activity, glucocorticoid (GC) receptors and the effect of vincristine-prednisolone (VP) therapy on fresh leukaemia cases was examined. Five of 6 TdT+ leukaemias showed high levels of GC receptors and a favourable response to VP therapy, whereas 1 acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and 3 of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) cases in blast crisis with no TdT activity showed low level of GC receptors and poor response to VP therapy. Significant correlation (r = 0.821, P less than 0.01) was observed between TdT activity and the number of GC receptor sites in these cases. X2 test showed significant difference (P less than 0.01) between TdT+ and TdT- leukaemias in the effect of VP. A significant difference (P less than 0.01) was also observed between VP-effective and ineffective leukaemias in the number of GC-receptor sites by unpaired t test. Therefore GC receptors may be responsible for the effect of VP on TdT+ leukaemias.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sasaki, R., Takaku, F., Aoki, T. et al. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase activities and glucocorticoid receptors in leukaemia. Br J Cancer 44, 63–67 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1981.148
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1981.148