Ribonucleotide reductase and thymidine kinase activities in various cultured cell lines derived from hematologic malignancies.

The activities of ribonucleotide reductase and thymidine kinase, and the thymidine incorporation rate were measured in 16 cultured human hematologic malignant cell lines with different cell proliferation rates. Thymidine kinase activity was significantly higher in myeloid and monocytoid cell lines than in other cell lines, but ribonucleotide reductase activity presented as CDP reductase activity was similar in the different cell lines. The ratio of thymidine kinase to CDP reductase activity was high in monocytoid cell lines. A close correlation was found between the cell proliferation rate and CDP reductase activity, but not thymidine kinase activity or the thymidine incorporation rate. The ratio of thymidine kinase to CDP reductase activity was high in slowly growing cell lines and low in rapidly growing cell lines. These results indicate that in cultured human malignant cells a high potential for proliferation may depend mainly on the de novo pyrimidine pathway of DNA biosynthesis.