CORRELATION OF SERUM LEVELS OF INTERLEUKIN-1 FAMILY MEMBERS WITH DISEASE-ACTIVITY AND RESPONSE TO TREATMENT IN HAIRY-CELL LEUKEMIA

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a well-recognized chronic lymphoprolifera tive disorder of B cell lineage, which may be regulated by growth fact ors including cytokines and cytokine antagonists. Previous studies hav e shown a good correlation between circulating soluble interleukin-2 r eceptor (sIL-2R) levels and disease activity and response to therapy w as always associated with a decrease in sIL-2R levels, The interleukin -1 (IL-1) family of agonists and antagonists may also be involved in t he regulation of hematopoietic malignancies. In the present study, we evaluated members of the IL-1 family (IL-1 beta, IL-1 receptor antagon ist (IL-1Ra) and IL-1 soluble receptors Type I and Type II (IL-1sRI an d IL-1sRII) in 23 patients with HCL. Patients were classified accordin g to the clinical state of their disease. Most were treated with 2-chl oro-2'-deoxyadercosine (2-CDA) and treatment was associated with a sig nificant decrease in the serum levels of sIL-2R, IL-1 beta and IL-1sRI I in patients achieving a complete or partial response. In contrast to the above, levels of IL-1Ra increased during response to treatment an d clinical response to 2-CDA was associated with an increase of 122% i n IL-1Ra levels, in parallel with a decrease of 63% in IL-1 beta and 4 7% in IL-1sRII levels. These results suggest that the balance between IL-1 beta, IL-2 and their soluble receptors or antagonists mag be invo lved in the pathogenesis and immunoregulation of HCL. Serum levels of these cytokines mag therefore be used to monitor therapeutic efficacy of therapy in HCL and to detect any residual disease.