Cytokines : as useful Prognostic Markers in Lymphoma Cases

Cytokines are believed to be involved in the pathogenesis and enhanced expression in patients with Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Based on this phenomenon, a multicentric study was carried out in various lymphoma cases. The diagnosis of lymphoma was made on tissue biopsies and fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Out of a total of 72 cases studied, 45 were of Hodgkin's lymphoma (62.5%) and 27 cases were of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (37.5%). Maximum cases of Hodgkin's disease occurred in the age group of 30-40 years and males outnumbered females. Hodgkin's lymphoma cases were predominantly of mixed cellularity histologic type (46.66%) whereas majority cases of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were of high grade histologic type (48.14%) with predominance in the age group 51-60 years. In both these type of lymphomas, the IL-2R and IL-6 levels were found to be increased more than four fold (as compared to healthy controls) (p<0.05). The cytokine levels decreased after chemotherapy in patients showing response to therapy. However, there were few conflicting and unreliable trends in the IL-6 levels after chemotherapy where elevated IL-6 levels persisted in patients in clinical remission. Overall, it was seen that both IL-2R and IL-6 can be used as an indicator for assessing prognosis and drug therapy in lymphoma cases. IL-2R was found to be a better prognostic marker than IL-6 in assessing the response of lymphoma patient to chemotherapy, more so in Hodgkin's disease.