Serum copper, serum ceruloplasmin, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate measurements in children with Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and nonmalignant lymphadenopathy.

Between 1975 and 1981, 29 children with Hodgkin's disease, 22 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and 13 with lymphadenopathy from various nonmalignant causes were studied with respect to the usefulness of serum copper, ceruloplasmin, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) as markers of disease activity. Although elevated copper and ceruloplasmin levels were indicators of disease activity in the childhood lymphomas, and in patients with Hodgkin's disease the levels tended to be higher in those with advanced clinical stage, they were no better markers of disease activity than the ESR. Moreover, elevated serum copper and ceruloplasmin were nonspecific, since one child with benign lymphadenopathy and one Hodgkin's disease patient with an infection had raised levels. Low levels of copper and ceruloplasmin were found in four jaundiced patients probably because of impaired hepatic synthesis of ceruloplasmin. The authors conclude that serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels are no better markers of disease activity in children with lymphomas than is the ESR.