Biogenic amines content in the serum of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Abstract

The biosynthetic pathway of biogenic amines is very active during the growth of many tumour cells. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma represents a very heterogeneous group of malignancies. The concentration level of some biogenic amines (putrescine, histamine, spermidine, epinephrine, and spermine) was investigated to elucidate whether they could be observed as markers for the patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In this study, the method of acidic extraction of five biogenic amines from human serum, dansyl chloride pre-column derivatization, and LC/DAD analysis were used to determine the content of biogenic amines in biological fluids. The results indicate that statistically significant differences exist in putrescine, spermidine and histamine contents in non-Hodgkin’s patients versus healthy controls. The concentrations of putrescine, spermidine and epinephrine were elevated, and histamine was lower compared to controls. Based on their content, serum biogenic amines could be considered as potential tumour markers.