Correlation between serum level of soluble L-selectin and leukocyte count in chronic myeloid and lymphocytic leukemia and during bone marrow transplantation.
L-selectin is a glycoprotein which is one of three members in a family of cell adhesion molecules called selectins. L-selectin is present in distinct forms on both neutrophil granulocytes and lymphocytes, and it appears to play an important role in the early stages of leukocyte-endothelial cell interaction. Activation of leukocytes leads to shedding of the extracellular part of L-selectin which thus forms a soluble adhesion molecule, sL-selectin, which retains functional capacity and can be detected in serum. In the present study we have developed a specific, sensitive sandwich ELISA to measure the serum level of sL-selectin in patients with hematological and infectious disorders. Three patients with acute myeloid leukemia in remission and 1 patient with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase were followed during bone marrow transplantation and the level of sL-selectin was found to correlate closely to the leukocyte counts with no detectable sL-selectin during periods of severe leukopenia. In 11 patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia and 13 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia the sL-selectin level was also found to correlate closely to the leukocyte count (R = 0.98; p = 0.001 and R = 0.83; p = 0.004 respectively). One CML patient with a leukocytosis of 385 x 10(9)/l was found to have an sL-selectin concentration 625 times above normal. Ten patients with acute pneumonia were evaluated at diagnosis and at the time of follow-up 4-8 weeks later. In all patients the initial sL-selectin level was higher than at follow-up. However, no close correlation between sL-selectin and leukocyte count or CRP (C-reactive protein) at the time of diagnosis was found. In summary, we have found that the sL-selectin level in human serum closely correlates to the leukocyte count in both CML and CLL and during bone marrow transplantation.
Zetterberg
E
E
Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Richter
J
J
D000208:Acute Disease; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019041:L-Selectin; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000097:blood
D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D019041:L-Selectin