Electrophoretic mobility, concentration, and activity of alpha 1-antitrypsin in serum of patients undergoing bone-marrow transplantation.

We have observed an electrophoretically abnormal, nonfunctional species of alpha 1-antitrypsin in serum from patients who were receiving bone-marrow transplants for treatment of leukemia or aplastic anemia. Three of four patients in whose serum this protein appeared died soon after; the fourth recovered, and the disappearance of the abnormal alpha 1-antitrypsin paralleled his recovery. This suggests that the inability to maintain functional activity of alpha 1-antitrypsin predisposes patients to life-threatening complications during recovery from bone-marrow transplants.