The median expression level of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-β of patients in moderate prognosis group [3.80 pg/ml (2.75 pg/ml, 15.32 pg/ml)] was higher than that of patients in poor prognosis group [2.78 pg/ml (1.28 pg/ml, 3.36 pg/ml)] and good prognosis group [1.61 pg/ml (0.83 pg/ml, 3.04 pg/ml)] ( U=216, P=0.02; U = 312, P < 0.05); the median expression level of TNF-β in good prognosis group was lower than that in poor prognosis group ( U = 562, P = 0.048). There were no statistically significant differences in the expression levels of Th1/Th2 cytokines of AML patients with different prognostic stratification (all P>0.05).The cut-off value of TNF-β was 3.23 pg/ml in good prognosis group and moderate prognosis group, the area under the ROC curve was 0.866 (95% CI 0.753-0.978, P < 0.05); among 26 patients with TNF-β≥ 3.23 pg/ml, 25 (96.2%) patients had not good prognosis. The cut-off value was 3.62 pg/ml for distinguishing between moderate prognosis group and poor prognosis group, the area under the ROC curve was 0.747 (95% CI 0.610-0.884, P = 0.02); 18 (100%) patients with TNF-β≥ 3.62 pg/ml had not good prognosis. The cut-off value was 2.19 pg/ml for distinguishing between good prognosis group and not good prognosis group, the area under the ROC curve was 0.719 (95% CI 0.595-0.842, P = 0.04); among 53 patients with TNF-β≥2.19 pg/ml, 46 (86.8%) patients had not good prognosis.
Conclusions:
The high expression of TNF-β may indicate that the prognosis of AML patients is not good. When the level of TNF-β was equal or greater than 3.62 pg/ml, it may contribute to the prognostic stratification of AML patients.