A study of the salivary glycoprotein in cystic fibrosis patients and controls: fucose incorporation and protein pattern.

The incorporation of fucose to glycoprotein acceptors prepared from the saliva of 
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients was compared with the incorporation into acceptors 
from controls. The CF acceptor glycoprotein incorporated significantly more fucose in 
the presence of either patients' or control plasma. The fucosyl transferase 
activity in the patients' plasma was not significantly different from controls. 
Fucosidase activity was similar also for both groups. The protein bands 
of the acceptor glycoproteins from the patients' saliva differed from those 
of the control in number and electrophoretic mobility. On the basis 
of these studies of fucose incorporation we propose that glycoprotein in 
the salivary secretion of E&Apatients are qualitatively different from normal. 