Enzyme variability and neonatal jaundice. The role of adenosine deaminase and acid phosphatase.

A sample of children treated by phototherapy during the neonatal period has been studied in the population of Penne (South Eastern Italy) in order to confirm the association previously reported in newborns from the population of Rome between neonatal jaundice and phenotypes of adenosine deaminase (ADA) and acid phosphatase (ACP1). The present data confirm that the incidence of clinically relevant jaundice is much greater in newborns of phenotype ACP1 BA carrying ADA2 allele than in other infants. Since ACP1 probably acts as flavin mononucleotide phosphatase and is modulated by purine nucleotides, it is likely that enzymes of purine nucleotide metabolism (including ADA), ACP1 and flavoenzymes (including gluthatione reductase and enzymes of Krebs cycle), may represent a polygenic complex influencing bilirubin levels in the first few days of life.