1Elham Abdel Samie, 1Sherif H Abdel Wahab and 2Amal E Khalifa.
1Clinical Pathology Department and 2Clinical Oncology Unit, Assiut University Hospital.
This study aimed at assessing whether pretreatment levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a), soluble TNF type 1 receptor (p55-R-TNF) and soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) are related to known clinical and biological prognostic factors of lymphoma. Thirty-five patients diagnosed to have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) were studied. Patients were treated by 6 cycles of multiagent chemotherapy regimen containing Cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, Vincristine and Prednisolone (CHOP). Serum cytokines levels were determined in their serum by an Enzyme Amplified Sensitivity Immunoassay (EASIA) and chemiluminescent enzyme immunometric assay. Statistically significant higher pretreatment levels of sIL-2R (p<0.0001), IL-6 (P<0.0001), IL-10 (P=0.01) and p55-R-TNF (P<0.0001) were observed in NHL patients as compared to controls. sIL- 2R and TNF-a levels correlated with tumor burden (P> 0.02 and > 0.01, respectively), while, significantly high levels of IL-6, TNF-a and p55-R-TNF were found in patients presented with ß symptoms (P = 0.01, 0.05 and 0.025 respectively). Following treatment, cytokine levels progressively declined in responding patients. However, no single parameter was found to be of independent prognostic significance. Dramatic variations in sIL- 2 R and TNF-a levels between responder and non-responders suggested that combination of these markers might have a prognostic value in management of NHL. These markers could be used in monitoring disease activity and identification of high risk patients who need more aggressive therapy.