Evaluation of serum levels of multiple cytokines and adhesion molecules in patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia using biochip array technology.

AIM

Evaluation of serum levels of 17 cytokines and 5 adhesion molecules in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and in healthy subjects using biochip array technology. This approach allows multi-analytical determination from a single sample.

METHODS

A total of 15 ALL patients and 15 healthy subjects (blood donors) were studied. Serum samples were analyzed by biochip based immunoassays on the Evidence Investigator analyzer. T-tests were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Comparing cytokine and adhesion molecule levels in ALL patients and in healthy subject, we found significant increase in serum VCAM-1 (p < 0.000001), ICAM-1 (p < 0.0001), L-selectin (p < 0.0001), IL-8 (p < 0.001), MCP-1 (p < 0.01), and significant decrease (p < 0.01) in serum IL-3 and IL-4.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that serum levels of specific cytokines and adhesion molecules (VCAM-1, ICAM-1, L-selectin, IL-8, IL-3, IL-4, MCP-1) are significantly altered in patients with newly diagnosed ALL, reflecting acti-vity of the disease. Further investigation is needed to establish if these alterations could be used as a prognostic indicator for ALL.