[Prognostic significance of lactate dehydrogenase and beta2-microglobulin in chronic lymphocytic leukemia]

To evaluate the prognostic value of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and beta2-microglobulin (beta2-MG) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a total of 141 cases of CLL had been investigated retrospectively. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the overall and failure-free survival distributions. Cox regression was used in univariate and multivariate analysis of potential predictors for overall survival. In multivariate analysis, the expression levels of LDH and beta2-MG were divided into 3 groups: (1) elevation of both LDH and beta2-MG levels; (2) elevation of LDH or beta2-MG levels alone; (3) normal levels of both LDH and beta2-MG. The results showed that serum LDH and beta2-MG levels of patients in Binet C were significantly higher than those in Binet A (p=0.034 and p=0.035). The level of serum beta2-MG was not correlated with lymphocyte count (p=0.756). Binet C and high LDH level were associated with significantly shorter overall survival. beta2-MG was not proved to have any association with overall survival. The overall survival time in group of elevation of both LDH and beta2-MG levels was shorter than that in group of normal levels of both LDH and beta2-MG. It is concluded that serum LDH level and Binet stage are important prognostic factors for CLL.