title: Impaired expression of interleukin 2 receptors in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
abstract: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients were studied for the expression of interleukin 2 receptors (IL-2R). When stimulated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) for 3 days, the percentage of p55 Tac positive cells and the number of high affinity IL-2R was decreased in on-therapy ALL patients at remission and returned to normal after cessation of the treatment. However, the percentage of p75 IL-2R positive PBMC was normal in all ALL patients at remission. It is well-known that there are several immunological abnormalities including T and natural killer (NK) cell dysfunctions in ALL patients undergoing maintenance chemotherapy. IL-2 facilitates T-cell growth and corrects defective NK activity. Taking this into account, there may be a poor utilization of autologously produced IL-2 because of the impaired expression of IL-2R, and this poor utilization of IL-2 may be related to the defective immunological functions in childhood ALL patients at remission who are receiving maintenance chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsudo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000097:blood*; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2