SERUM HYALURONAN IS INCREASED IN MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMA

The serum concentration of hyaluronan (HYA) was measured in 41 patient s with malignant lymphoma, including 21 patients with non-Hodgkin's ma lignant lymphoma and 20 patients with Hodgkin's disease, Thirty-four p atients were studied at diagnosis, The remaining 7 patients had relaps ing or resistant disease, The patients were categorized into four stag es according to conventional staging procedures, The median serum HYA concentration in patients with malignant lymphoma was significantly hi gher (median 40.7 ng/ml; 95% confidence limits 26.1-57.6 ng/ml) than i n an age-matched healthy reference group (median 14.5 ng/ml, 95% confi dence limits 11-19.4 ng/ml) (P = 0.00032). The highest serum HYA level s were found in patients with relapsing/resistant disease, all being i n stages III and IV(median 181.5; range 11.9-500 ng/ml), as compared t o previously untreated patients (median 29.8; range 9.1-108) (P = 0.00 02) and controls (median 14.2; range 6.7-51.2), Decreased uptake and d egradation of HYA owing to malignant transformation of lymphatic tissu e is the most plausible explanation to these findings. (C) 1995 Wiley- Liss, Inc.