Serum Level of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) in Children with Acute Leukemia.

¹Ahmed K Mansour, ²Osama Elbaz, ¹Zakaria El-Morsi, and ¹Nehad Shalaby.

¹Pediatric Department and ²Hematology Unit, Clinical Pathology Department, Mansoura Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University.

Measurement of circulating leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) has significantly contributed to the understanding of the physiopathology of several infectious and hematological diseases. Using an ELISA technique, serum LIF was assayed in 40 leukemic children [25 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 15 with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML)], before chemotherapy and after complete remission, as well as in 10 normal children of matched age & sex as a reference group. The serum LIF was found higher in AML group before therapy with a statistically significant difference from the control group (P< 0.01) while there was no significant difference between LIF levels both before and after treatment in ALL and control groups (P> 0.1 & P> 0.5). High LIF serum level was found to exert a loading effect towards relapse in AML patients. However longer period of follow up is recommended to assess LIF prognostic value.