[Levels of intracellular IL-6 and IFN-gamma in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia].
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.
Yin
Huai-Qing
HQ
Department of Pediatrics, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China. yhg0351@163.com
Qiao
Zhen-Hua
ZH
Zhu
Lei
L
Zhang
Li
L
Su
Li-Ping
LP
Lu
Yu-Jin
YJ
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*
D015850:Interleukin-6; D007371:Interferon-gamma