The changes and clinical significance of pre-and post-treat ment levels of IL-6 and IFN-γ in patients with acute leukemia

Objective To evaluate the change in levels of IL-6 and IFN-γbefore and after chemotherapy in patients with acute leukemia(AL),in order to bring the theoretical basis for preventing and treating it by using immunotherapy.Method The levels of IL-6 and IFN-γ were determined in pretreatment and posttreatmenby ELISA and analysed by linear correlation in 30 AL children.Results The levels of IL-6 in patients with acute leukemia before chemotherapy were significantly higher than that of normal control group ( P 0.001),and the levels of IL-6 after chemotherapy in patients were much lower than those before chemotherapy( P 0.001),also lower than that of normal control group. The levels of IFN-γ in patients with acute leukemia were significantly lower than that of normal control group ( P 0.001),and the levels after chemotherapy were distinctly higher than those before chemotherapy( P 0.05).There was a negative correlation between IL-6 and IFN-γ( r =-0.428,P0.01).Conclusion Both IL-6 and IFN-γ take part in the process of acute leukemia.The changes of serum IL-6 and IFN-γ levels maybe served as a mean of monitoring the response to treatment of children with acute leukemia.