CYTOKINE RECEPTOR EXPRESSION IN LEUKEMIC-CELLS

Cytokines have been postulated to play important roles in tumour biolo gy and in the host response to tumours, and a number of therapeutic mo dalities involving cytokines have been proposed. If patients are to be treated with cytokines, or cytokine inhibitors, it will be important to determine the potential for direct action of the cytokine on the tu mour cells. In this study, a high-sensitivity immunofluorescence techn ique is used to determine the expression of a number of cytokine recep tors on a total of 115 leukaemic samples. The results show that many l eukaemic samples express low levels of cytokine receptors, and that ma lignancies of a particular type are heterogeneous with respect to rece ptor expression. In vitro culture experiments show, as expected, that receptor expression is a necessary but not sufficient requirement for responsiveness to cytokines. The cytokine receptor phenotype may provi de useful additional clinical and prognostic information, and should b e determined particularly for patients undergoing treatment with cytok ines or cytokine inhibitors.