In vivo regulation of human leukocyte 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase: increased enzyme protein concentration and catalytic efficiency in human leukemia and lymphoma.

The activity of microsomal HMG-CoA reductase in freshly isolated leukocytes from patients with a variety of hematologic malignancies was significantly increased (up to 20-fold) when compared to enzyme activity in leukocytes from normal subjects (average 10.3 +/- 0.8 pmol/min per mg). Increased enzyme activity was not due to nonspecific leukocyte stimulation or to the presence of a malignancy, since normal enzyme activity was observed in subjects with either viral illnesses or solid tumors. Increased HMG-CoA reductase activity accompanying hematologic malignancy could also not be attributed to alterations in enzyme-substrate kinetic parameters (Km), or to alterations in the phosphorylation state or thiol-disulfide status of the enzyme, nor was it correlated with differences in serum lipid or lipoprotein concentrations. The increase (3.6-fold) in HMG-CoA reductase activity in leukocytes from patients with preleukemia was due entirely to a rise in enzyme catalytic efficiency (specific activity), whereas the increase (4.3-fold) observed in leukocytes from patients with overt leukemia or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was due to a concomitant increase in both enzyme catalytic efficiency (2.5-fold) and enzyme protein concentration (1.6-fold). Similar increases in HMG-CoA reductase activity and catalytic efficiency were also noted for both transformed, nonmalignant, and malignant cultured leukocytes, suggesting that increased enzyme catalytic efficiency is not a nonspecific consequence of physiological changes occurring in response to the malignancy but may be an integral aspect of the malignant phenotype. HMG-CoA reductase protein concentrations, however, were not elevated in either transformed, nonmalignant, or malignant cultured leukocytes, suggesting that increases in enzyme protein levels may be secondary to other physiological changes that occur during the development of overt leukemia. Taken together, these observations suggest that an increase in the activity of HMG-CoA reductase, the rate-controlling enzyme in cholesterol synthesis, is a common occurrence in human hematologic malignancies and that a biphasic elevation of enzyme activity may exist in malignant leukocytes, such that changes in catalytic activity may occur early in tumorigenesis and may be followed by secondary changes in enzyme levels.