Elevated glycosyltransferase activities in infected or traumatized hosts: nonspecific response to inflammation.

Streptococcus pneumoniae infection leads to multifold increases in sialyltransferase, galactosyltransferase, alpha 2-fucosyltransferase, and alpha 3-fucosyltransferase activity of rat liver. Such changes may reflect an increased demand for glycosylation of acute-phase proteins synthesized and secreted by the liver during inflammatory processes. Serum sialyltransferase became elevated in bacteria-infected or burned rats and sandfly fever-infected humans, but did not correlate with acute-phase serum protein changes. These data suggest that nonparenchymal liver cells, such as macrophages, may contribute substantially to elevated sialyltransferase activity in the circulation during infection and, as such, represent a general host response to infection and tissue trauma.