title: Elevation of serum KL-6 glycoprotein or surfactant protein-D in adult T-cell leukemia with distinct pulmonary complications.
abstract: Patients with hematological malignancies frequently suffer from lung diseases as a complication. However, it is difficult to discriminate leukemic invasion into the lung from infectious pulmonary complications. The serum level of Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6), which is a mucin-like glycoprotein, is increased in more than 70% of patients with interstitial pneumonia. Surfactant protein-D (SP-D) is produced mainly in the lung by alveolar type II and bronchiolar epithelial cells and is a useful serum marker for interstitial pneumonia. We therefore measured the levels of KL-6 and SP-D in sera from 128 patients (76 males and 52 females, mean age: 59 years) with hematological malignancies, including adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). Overall, the increase in KL-6 or SP-D, above each cut-off value (500 U/ml for KL-6 and 110 ng/ml for SP-D), was detected in 11 patients (8.6%) or 10 patients (7.8%), respectively. In contrast, among 67 ATL patients, 15 patients had high serum levels of KL-6 and/or SP-D; both were elevated in 2 patients, only KL-6 was elevated in 6 patients and only SP-D was elevated in 7 patients. Thus, serum KL-6 and SP-D appear to be elevated in a mutually exclusive manner in ATL. Indeed, high serum levels of KL-6 were closely related to the stage of ATL, while the serum SP-D was elevated in ATL patients with pulmonary infection. In conclusion, the combined measurement of KL-6 and SP-D in ATL may become a useful means to discriminate leukemic pulmonary lesions from infectious pulmonary complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Akemi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Osaka
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanagihara
authors.forename: Yasuaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Hiroo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inokuchi
authors.forename: Tomayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Minori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komoda
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Muneo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aoyama
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: Shimeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamihira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018396:Mucin-1 / Q000097:blood*; D037663:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein D / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: C060192:MUC1 protein, human; D018396:Mucin-1; D037663:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein D