title: [Levels of intracellular IL-6 and IFN-gamma in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the changes of intracellular interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) expressions in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at different stages, and to examine the correlation between IL-6 and IFN-gamma in ALL children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The levels of intracellular IL-6 and IFN-gamma in venous blood lymphocytes were detected by flow cytometry in 42 children with ALL at diagnosis and at remission stage. Twenty healthy children were used as the controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intracellular IL-6 level in ALL children at diagnosis was 81.74+/-9.31, which was much higher than that in the Control group (5.67 +/- 0.96 ) (P < 0.01). The intracellular IFN-gamma level in ALL children (1.31 +/- 0.32) was significantly lower than that in the Control group (1.46 +/- 0.49) (P < 0.01). However, the intracellular IL-6 level (27.52 +/- 3.40) decreased remarkably in ALL patients at remission stage (P < 0.01), but was still higher than that in the Control group (P < 0.01). In contrast, the intracellular IFN-gamma level (1.97 +/- 0.72) increased noticeably in ALL patients at remission stage, which was higher than that at diagnosis and the Control group (P < 0.01). A negative correlation was found between the intracellular IL-6 and the IFN-gamma levels in ALL patients (r=-0.476, P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intracellular IL-6 and IFN-gamma levels may be used as the markers for monitoring the response to treatment in ALL patients. There is a negative correlation between intracellular IL-6 and IFN-gamma levels in ALL children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China. yhg0351@163.com
authors.forename: Huai-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Zhen-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Li-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Yu-Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D007371:Interferon-gamma