Serological immunomarkers in cutaneous T cell lymphoma

Abstract

Introduction: As serological immunomarkers like neopterin, beta2-microglobulin, soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) and IL-6 have been described to be elevated in various malignancies, the aim of this study was to investigate whether they would be of diagnostic and prognostic value for leukemic and non-leukemic cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL).

Patients and methods: Forty-one CTCL patients from the lymphoma clinics of the Department of Dermatology, University of Zurich, were tested for the serum levels of the above-mentioned immunomarkers at several time points, and clinical status and clinical outcome were recorded. Thirty-nine patients with CBCL and T cell inflammatory diseases served as controls.

Results: The study revealed that neopterin, beta2-MG and sIL-2R are significantly elevated in Sezary syndrome, whereby sIL-2R seemed to be the most sensitive marker and is typically increased in Sezary syndrome. Moreover, there is a correlation between tumor burden index values and serum parameters. Concerning the outcome of the disease (progression versus non-progression), only neopterin showed a significant prognostic value in non-leukemic CTCL patients.

Conclusion: Serological immunomarkers are helpful tools in determining the tumor burden in CTCL and thus might be useful for disease monitoring during treatment. They may have prognostic value for predicting the clinical course.