Serum adenosine deaminase: isoenzymes and diagnostic application.

Human adenosine deaminase (ADA; EC 3.5.4.4) consists of three isoenzymes: ADA1, ADA1+CP, and ADA2. We developed an electrophoretic technique to distinguish between these three isoenzymes. The isoenzyme pattern was studied in tissue and cell homogenates, as well as in serum from normal subjects and from patients with increased serum ADA who had either hepatitis, infectious mononucleosis, tuberculosis, pneumonia, rheumatoid arthritis, or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The highest ADA activity was found in lymphocytes and monocytes. ADA2 could be detected only in monocytes (18% of total ADA activity). It was also the predominant isoenzyme in the sera of controls and all disease groups, except for ALL--the only condition evaluated that is not of an inflammatory nature. We conclude that serum ADA reflects monocyte/macrophage activity or turnover in most diseases studied. The exception is ALL, where serum ADA most probably originates from lymphocyte precursors.