Abstract

By use of sensitive immunocatalytic assays, based on isozyme specific monoclonal antibodies, the activities of the three main human alkaline phosphatases were determined in serum. The activities were related to ABO blood groups and secretor phenotypes. The activity of intestinal alkaline phosphatase was found to be strongly correlated with ABO blood groups and secretor phenotypes, while neither the placenta alkaline phosphatase activity nor the tissue unspecific alkaline phosphatase activity demonstrated any dependence on blood groups or secretor phenotypes. Non-secretors, independent of ABO blood groups, demonstrated low activities of intestinal alkaline phosphatase in serum, amounting to approximately 20% of the activities in the secretor groups. Within the secretor group, the lowest activities were observed for blood group A (2.8 +/- 1.1 IU/l; mean +/- SEM) and the highest for blood groups B and O (14.1 +/- 1.1 IU/l and 19.0 +/- 2.5 IU/l, respectively). These results confirm that the activities of intestinal alkaline phosphatase in serum have to be related both to ABO blood groups and to secretor phenotypes in order to be informative in clinical contexts.