Creatine kinase isoenzyme of high relative molecular mass in serum of a cancer patient.

We describe an atypical serum creatine kinase isoenzyme in the serum of a woman with cancer of the left breast. This isoenzyme migrated toward the cathode, closely following the MM isoenzyme on agarose gel electrophoresis. Its relative molecular mass was estimated to be about 325,000, fourfold that of normal creatine kinase. It is more heat-stable and is inhibited more by urea than the normal MM isoenzyme. Isoenzyme monomer B activity was observed to be 20 U/liter in the serum, as measured with use of an antibody against the M monomer. On anion-exchange column analysis, creatine kinase activity was observed only in the MM fraction, in spite of the fact that B activity was observed in the patient's serum. Results of the immunological investigation make it unlikely that the atypical isoenzyme is linked to immunoglobulin or beta-lipoprotein. It may have been present as the result of modification of normal creatine kinase by the therapeutic radiation the patient was receiving.