Levels of intracellular IL-6 and IFN-gamma in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia / 中国当代儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>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.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>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.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>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).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>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.</p>