[Alteration of plasma interleukin-18 level in leukemia patients and its clinical significance].

To explore the alteration of plasma level of IL-18 in patients with leukemia before and after chemotherapy and its clinical significance, the plasma level of IL-18 was determined with ELISA method before and 2 weeks after chemotherapy in 37 leukemia patients, and 18 normal individuals. The results showed that the plasma IL-18 level (153.34 +/- 50.74 pg/ml) in leukemia patients was similar to the level (135.82 +/- 47.00 pg/ml) in normal control, and the IL-18 level in ALL patients was significantly increased (173.3 +/- 34.4 pg/ml), while the IL-18 level in CML patients (111.8 +/- 50.5 pg/ml) was lower than normal level. After chemotherapy, the IL-18 level (100.89 +/- 50.07 pg/ml) was significantly lower than normal level and oneself before treatment. It is concluded that plasma IL-18 levels in leukemia patients are un-homogeneous and IL-18 production decreased after chemotherapy, and immunologic hypofunction in patients with chemotherapy might be related with the decrease of IL-18 and related cytokines.