[Tumor necrosis factor alpha activity in peripheral blood in patients with acute leukemia: changes and clinical implications].

The production of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) of peripheral blood mononuclear cells was investigated in 58 patients with acute leukemia. The results showed that the production of TNF alpha was significantly lower in 41 of the 58 patients than that of normal controls. The TNF alpha activity levels from patients with acute monocytic leukemia and acute myelomonocytic leukemia were higher than those from patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute granulocytic leukemia (P < 0.05). The TNF alpha activity level changed in various courses of the disease and returned to normal during the period of complete remission. It was noted that patients with higher or normal TNF alpha levels had a higher complete remission rate than those with lower TNF alpha level (P < 0.01). These results indicated that determination of TNF alpha maybe helpful in observing changes of the disease and predicting prognosis.