The enzymes which have been found in the leukocytes in leukemia are of three kinds—proteolytic, oxidizing and lipolytic.
A protease has been reported in chronic myeloid leukemia by a number of observers. Erben,1 in studying autolysis of leukemic blood, obtained evidence of protein digestion which he suspected was due to an enzyme contained in the neutrophilic cells; he was, however, unable to demonstrate the source of the ferment satisfactorily, but assumed that the neutrophils furnished it, since he could find no autolysis in lymphoid leukemia. Schumm2 demonstrated that the incoagulable nitrogen ("albumoses") of leukemic blood resulted from enzymotic activity, though the source of the enzyme was not stated. The occurrence of autolysis in the blood of chronic myeloid leukemia was further confirmed by Pfeiffer,3 who studied material from two cases. He also showed that bloods presenting a leukocytosis underwent autolysis, though less rapidly than leukemic bloods,