Cerebrospinal fluid and serum levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 in acute leukemia patients: correlation to other prognostic factors

Background Acute leukemia (AL) is a malignancy with accumulation of blasts in the bone marrow (BM). The blast cells enter into the peripheral blood stream and secondary localized extramedullary sites. The regulation of this process has not been clearly explained so far. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1) in AL patients with correlation to other prognostic factors and tumor load. In a case-control study, 80 de-novo AL patients and 30 healthy age-matched controls were included. All patients were subjected to thorough history taking, full physical examination, and laboratory investigations such as complete blood count, BM examination, and flow cytometry (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method). Results MCP1 was significantly elevated in both blood and CSF in AL patients in comparison with the control group (P 0.05). In AL patients, there was a significant positive correlation between MCP1 level in both blood and CSF and the following parameters: hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, purpura, fever, platelet count, white blood cells, and blast % in peripheral blood and BM (P 0.05) were observed. There was no correlation between MCP1 in blood and CSF and Hb, lactate dehydrogenase and first hour of erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Conclusion Significant increase in the CSF and blood levels of MCP1 level was observed in AL patients compared with the control group. This may be related to extramedullary leukemic infiltration, tumor load, and disease activity in these patients.