Quantitative analysis of ribonucleoside triphosphates (rNTPs) in human lymphoid cells by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC).

Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) was applied to develop an analytical method for quantitation of ribonucleoside triphosphates (rNTPs) in human lymphoid cells obtained from patients with B-chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) and cutaneous lymphomas. The results of this analysis showed a significant depression of intracellular rNTPs in patients with B-CLL, compared with rNTPs of healthy controls. These data are in agreement with other studies in which rNTP separations were performed with traditional high-performance liquid chromatography. MECC has proved to be a useful tool for intracellular rNTPs determination, revealing possible new applications in the study of the metabolic state of human cells. In addition, this method can be useful in monitoring the effect of many drugs (antiviral, antineoplastic) which interfere with nucleotide metabolism.