Soluble interleukin 2 receptors in sera of Japanese patients with adult T
cell leukemia mark activity of disease
N Yasuda, PK Lai, SH Ip, PC Kung, Y Hinuma, M Matsuoka, T Hattori, K Takatsuki and DT Purtilo
Department of Pathology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha.
Serum concentrations of soluble interleukin 2 receptors (sIL 2R) were
measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 30 patients
with adult T cell leukemia (ATL), in 9 patients with other hematopoietic
malignancies, and in 17 asymptomatic individuals seropositive for human T
cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I). Sixty HTLV-I seronegative, age-matched
controls showed a normal range of form 63.2 to 480.8 U/mL. All asymptomatic
carriers of HTLV-I had sIL 2R in their sera within the normal range. sIL 2R
in sera was not related to the anti-HTLV-I antibody titer. Eleven patients
with acute ATL, a clinical phenotype with median survival rate of 4.4
months, had markedly elevated sIL 2R (11,100 to 99,000 U/mL), but eight
patients with smoldering ATL had low sIL 2R values (less than 480.8 U/mL)
comparable to controls. Eleven patients with chronic ATL had intermediate
elevated levels of sIL 2R (480.8 to 37,300.0 U/mL). Serum levels of sIL 2R
correlated with the number of ATL cells (r = 0.812) and CD25-positive cells
(r = 0.725) circulating in the peripheral blood. Longitudinal studies
performed in four patients with ATL showed significant correlation between
serum concentration of sIL 2R and activity of the malignancy. These
findings suggest that the level of sIL 2R in serum indicated tumor load
and, possibly, prognosis.
Volume 71,
Issue 4,
pp. 1021-1026,
04/01/1988
Copyright © 1988 by The American Society of Hematology
