Ectonucleotide Pyrophosphatase/Phosphodiesterase (E-NPP) and Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) activities in patients with uterine cervix neoplasia

Objective Ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase (E-NPP) and adenosine deaminase (ADA) activities, in the platelets and serum, were examined in patients with uterine cervix neoplasia without treatment as well as in patients treated by conization or radiotherapy (RTX). Design and methods The patients were divided based on the amount of time from the end of the treatments until the day of the blood sampling. Groups I (n = 19) (conization) and III (n = 11) (radiotherapy) (treated from one to five years earlier), groups II (n = 19) (conization) and IV (n = 16) (radiotherapy) (treated recently; up to three months earlier) and the non-treated group (cancer) (n = 7). Results E-NPP and ADA in the platelets and E-NPP in the serum were decreased in all the treated groups in relation to the control and non-treated groups, while ADA in the serum was decreased only in the conization groups in relation to them. In group II, E-NPP and ADA, in the platelets, were increased in relation to group IV. Conclusion The tendency of reduction for E-NPP and ADA indicates that they may act together to control nucleotide levels and it may also be speculated that surgery causes greater platelet activation contributing to the changes seen in the conization groups. In this sense, platelets seem to be more sensitive than serum.