Serum Gamma-Glutamyl Transpeptidase Activity as an Indicator of Disease of Liver, Pancreas, or Bone

Abstract

Abstract Serum γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), leucine aminopeptidase, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase activities were assayed in controls and in patients with liver, pancreatic, or bone disease. GGT activity was above normal in all forms of liver disease studied (viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, cholecystitis, metastatic carcinoma to liver, pancreatic carcinoma, liver granuloma, and acute pancreatitis). GGT more sensitively indicated hepatic disease than did alkaline phosphatase, much more so than did leucine aminopeptidase. GGT was disproportionately more active in relation to the transaminases in cases of intraor extrahepatic biliary obstruction; the reverse was true in cases of viral hepatitis. GGT activity was normal in children, adolescents, and pregnant women, and in cases of bone disease and renal failure. Kinetic measurement of GGT activity offers a simple, sensitive, and direct means for distinguishing whether bone or liver is the source of increased serum alkaline phosphatase activity. Activity was highest in obstructive liver disease.