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Rapid restoration of natural killer activity following treatment with 2‐chlorodeoxyadenosine in 22 patients with hairy‐cell leukemia
Author(s) -
Lauria F.,
Rondelli D.,
Raspadori D.,
Benfenati D.,
Tura S.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
european journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1600-0609
pISSN - 0902-4441
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0609.1994.tb01279.x
Subject(s) - cd16 , natural killer cell , cd8 , cytotoxic t cell , cd3 , medicine , immunology , leukemia , receptor , interleukin 2 , endocrinology , biology , immune system , biochemistry , in vitro
We report on the T‐cell profile and natural killer (NK) function in 22 hairy cell leukemia patients before and 2 and 6 months after a single 7‐day course of 2‐CdA therapy at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg daily continuous infusion. Before treatment, two groups of patients were identified in respect to NK activity, the first (12/22) had a normal number of T and NK cells and a normal NK activity, the second (10/22) showed a severe reduction of CD3 + , CD4 + , CD16 + , and CD56 + cells, together with impaired NK activity. All patients had increased serum levels of the soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL‐2R). Along with a high complete remission rate (77%), treatment with 2‐CdA produced a significant reduction (p = 0.001) of total lymphocytes (from 1.59 × 10 9 /1 to 0.72 × 10 9 /1), and particularly of CD4 + cells (from 0.68 × 10 9 /1 to 0.23 × 10 9 /1), while CD8 + , CD16 + and CD56 + cells were less affected. Despite the dramatic reduction of lymphocytes which lasted for more than 6 months, 7/10 patients with impaired NK function before starting 2‐CdA therapy normalized the cytotoxic function within 2 months. In conclusion, 2‐CdA produces a severe reduction of lymphocytes in general, and of CD4 lymphocytes in particular, whilst it may produce a significant increase in the proportion of NK cells leading, together with a normalization of the sIL‐2R serum levels, to a rapid restoration of the NK cytotoxic function in the majority of patients.