Cancer Therapy & Radiation Oncology

Biography

Biography: Hala K Sultan

Abstract

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an environment-dependent hematologic malignancy where interactions with accessory cells through cytokines and their receptors seem to confer a survival advantage, thus contributing to disease progression. Interleukin-22 (IL-22) is a T-cell-derived cytokine that promotes cell proliferation and survival through interaction with its receptor IL-22RA1. NKT cells mount strong antitumor responses and are a major focus in developing effective cancer immunotherapy. The functional consequences of CD1d expression on tumor cells are not well understood. However, increasing evidence suggests that they may affect invariant NKT cells. The aim of this work was to study the expression of CD1d and interleukin 22 level in patients with CLL in relation to disease characteristics. This study was conducted on 40 CLL patients diagnosed in the MRI Hematology Department as well as ten age and sex matched controls. The mean expression of CD1d was significantly lower among CLL patients in comparison to the control group (12.14 vs. 26.60%). IL-22 showed significantly higher mean value among CLL patients compared to the control group (47.01 vs.10.64 pg/ml). Significantly higher mean values were observed among positive ZAP-70 expressing patients regarding the CD1d % (18.15 vs. 0.96 %) and IL-22 (51.94vs. 37.83 pg/ml).The ROC curve showed that CD1d % and IL-22 level could be used as a sensitive indicator for positive ZAP-70 state, where the area under the curve was statistically highly significant (AUC=0.780, p=0.004), (AUC=0.809 p=0.001). Expression of CD1d % showed statistically significant positive correlation to ZAP-70 and IL-22 level. Serum IL-22 level showed statistically significant positive correlation to ZAP-70. Our findings strongly recommend the incorporation of CD1d expression and IL22 level into routine B- CLPDs panels.