β-Globulin Concentration and Treatment of Infantile Leukemia

Abstract

Analyses of blood from children with acute leukemia have given the following results:

1) Of the nine cases studied, seven showed an abnormally low β-globulin content: five cases below 2 per cent, two cases between 2–4 per cent and the two others a normal β. Variations have also occurred in the α- and γ-fractions.

2) Five of the cases with a low β received intramuscular injections of metal-binding β-globulin together with zinc (metal-binding β-globulin 20–30 mg/kg body weight/day, zinc 0.1–0.2 mg/kg body weight/day). A normalization of the β-globulin content of the blood followed this treatment and the other globulin fractions also seemed to tend to a normalization. One patient was only given metal-binding β. This case also showed an increase in the β content of the blood.

3) Zinc by itself also seems to influence the protein fractions, though less pronounced than when combined with the metal-binding β-globulin.

4) Clincal improvement seems to follow the increase of the β-globulin.

5) Plasma cells appear in the blood when the β-content increases, or just after it has reached a higher level. The appearance of plasma cells may perhaps be connected with their possible function as protein producers.

6) A serious lipemia with lethal effects has been observed in one case where the β-globulin content was low. A freeze-prepara-tion of lung tissue, with fat staining, showed that the capillaries of the lung alveoli had been largely filled with fat. Possibly this was caused by a disturbance of the normal interchange between blood lipids and fat deposits caused by the low β-globulin content.