Serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor, beta2-microglobulin, lactate dehydrogenase and erythrocyte sedimentation rate in children with hodgkin's lymphoma

The study was to determine clinical utility of serum soluble interleukin (IL)-2 receptor (sIL-2Rα), β-microglobulin (β-M), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) as markers of diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of response to therapy in childhood Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). The markers were measured prospectively before treatment and in complete remission (CR) during and after therapy in 30 children with HL (F/M:19/11; median age: 11.3 years) and once in 50 healthy children (F/M: 24/26; median age: 8.7 years). Median pretreatment levels of all analysed markers were significantly higher than in healthy controls. Increased pretreatment sIL-2Rα, LDH and ESR correlated with bulky disease; sIL-2Rα, β-M and ESR with presence of B symptoms and sIL-2Rα and LDH with advanced HL stages. There was a correlation between sIL-2Rα and LDH and between β-M and ESR. The levels and rates of elevated markers reflected well the response to chemotherapy, decreasing significantly when patients achieved CR and further on with therapy continuation. Since all patients survived thus the markers' value to predict the outcome was not established. Serum sIL-2Rα, β-M, LDH and ESR may act as markers for diagnostics and used in monitoring of therapy effectiveness in childhood HL. The markers were also increased in subgroups of patients with unfavourable clinical features; however, small sample size of the study did not allow to draw conclusion on their prognostic roles. We were also not able to establish the influence of markers on event free survival and overall survival because all children survived independent of initial clinical characteristics and pretreatment levels of sIL-2Rα, β-M, LDH and ESR. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.