Serum dehydroepiandrosterone and DHEA-sulfate in patients with adult T-cell leukemia and human T-lymphotropic virus type I carriers.
The serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA-sulfate (DHEA-S) were determined by radioimmunoassay in 38 patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). Levels of serum DHEA and DHEA-S were also measured in 60 human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) carriers, and did not differ from those in 60 healthy control subjects. Serum levels in patients with ATL were lower than those in the age- and sex-matched healthy controls and in HTLV-I carriers with statistical significance. Serum DHEA and DHEA-S in male patients with acute and lymphoma-type ATL were 1.06 +/- 0.77 ng/ml and 245.8 +/- 192.9 ng/ml, respectively. Levels in male patients with chronic and smoldering-type ATL were 1.69 +/- 0.68 ng/ml and 477.6 +/- 251.5 ng/ml, respectively. Serum levels of DHEA and DHEA-S in patients with acute and lymphoma-type ATL were significantly lower than those in patients with chronic and smoldering-type ATL (P < 0.05). These data suggest that a decrease in serum levels of DHEA and DHEA-S may be associated with patients who have some clinical subtypes of ATL. Moreover, androgens may have a therapeutic role in patients with ATL, as administered in patients with hairy-cell leukemia. Because there is at present no curative chemotherapy for ATL, a trial combination of androgens and standard chemotherapy may be a reasonable therapeutic option in such patients.
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
K
K
Uozumi
T
T
Uematsu
M
M
Otsuka
S
S
Nakano
Y
Y
Takatsuka
M
M
Iwahashi
S
S
Hanada
T
T
Arima
D000302:Adrenal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002353:Carrier State / Q000097:blood*; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000097:blood* / Q000172:deficiency / Q000502:physiology; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007121:Immunocompetence / Q000502:physiology; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate