The deoxyuridine suppression test: a review of its clinical and research applications

The most direct approach which could be used to determine whether vitamin B12 or folate deficiency plays any role in the pathogenesis of a disorder of haemopoiesis is the investigation of the efficiencyofa vitamin B 1r or folate-dependent biochemical process within the marrow cells themselves. The methylation of deoxyuridylate represents such a process and can now be studied by the deoxyuridine (dU) suppression test. The dU suppression test evolved from experiments designed by The test is based on two main observations. These are: I that the incorporation of 3H-thymidine eH-TdR) into the DNA of normal bone marrow cells is severely suppressed when these cells are pre-incubated with a suitable concentration of dU * ....