Relationship between platelet activation and cytokines in systemic inflammatory response syndrome patients with hematological malignancies

We investigated the significance of platelet activation and platelet-derive d microparticles (PMP) in 14 patients with systemic inflammatory response s yndrome (SIRS) and hematological malignancies. In the phenotypic analysis o f lymphocytes, there was a significant decrease of total and activated T ce lls after panipenem/betamipron (PAPM/BP) treatment (p<0.05), The percentage s of helper/inducer T cells and suppressor/cytotoxic T cells were insignifi cantly decreased after PAPM/BP treatment. The number of natural killer (NK) cells of potent activity was significantly decreased after treatment (p<0. 05), The levels of the cytokines interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL-6, and IL-8 in the patients were increased before treatment. IL-1 beta concentrations wer e not changed after treatment. In contrast, the IL-6 and IL-8 levels were s ignificantly decreased (p<0.05) after treatment, while tumor necrosis facto r (TNF)-alpha and interferon gamma remained almost normal. We found an incr ease of soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) and soluble vascular cell adhesion m olecule-1 (sVCAM-1) levels in the patients before treatment. After treatmen t, the sIL-2R concentrations tended to be decreased and sVCAM-1 levels show ed a significant decrease (p<0.01). In contrast, soluble thrombomodulin (sT M) level did not change. Regarding the platelet activation markers, CD62P, CD63, and PMP levels in the patients were increased before treatment. CD62P and CD63 tended to be decreased after treatment, whereas PMP levels were s ignificantly reduced from 1.056 +/- 103 to 762 +/- 64/10(4) platelets (p<0. 05). Furthermore, CD62P, CD63, and PMP correlated with the levels of IL-6 a nd IL-8, These results suggest that activated platelets and PMP may be pred ictive markers in pre-disseminated intravascular coagulation and hypercytok ine conditions related to SIRS. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.