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Lymphoma

Increased serum levels of interleukin-9 correlate to negative prognostic factors in Hodgkin's lymphoma

Leukemia volume 17, pages 2513–2516 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is characterised by an unbalanced cytokine secretion. Many of these cytokines have been implicated in the regulation of malignant and infiltrating cells. Interleukin-9 (IL-9) has been described to act in an autocrine fashion in HL, stimulating proliferation of the malignant cells. To investigate the potential clinical implication of this observation, a novel ELISA method was used to examine the serum levels of IL-9 in lymphoma patients. High levels of IL-9 were found in the sera from patients with HL (18/44), but not in the sera from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients (3/21) or healthy controls. The highest serum IL-9 levels, up to 3350 pg/ml, were observed in the nodular sclerosis subtype, and there was a correlation between IL-9 levels and the negative prognostic factors advanced stage, B-symptoms, low blood Hb and high erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Furthermore, there was no correlation between serum levels of IL-9 and IL-13, a cytokine where serum levels have been speculated to be of clinical importance. This is the first report showing that IL-9 can be measured in serum samples. A novel correlation between increased serum IL-9 levels, HL and clinical features is shown, suggesting that IL-9 is a candidate factor contributing to the development of HL.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Dr Carin Backlin (Uppsala University, Sweden) for expert technical assistance, and Professor Per Venge (University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden) for providing the serum samples of healthy volunteers. This study was supported by the Swedish Cancer Society, Lion's Cancer Research Foundation, Göran Gustafsson's Foundation and Belgian Programme on Interuniversity Poles of Attraction initiated by the Belgian State, Prime Minister's Office, Science Policy Programming.

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  1. M Bijman

    Present address: Department of Medical Oncology, Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    M Fischer, M Bijman, C Sundström & G Nilsson

  2. Department of Oncology, Radiology and Clinical Immunology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    M Fischer, M Bijman, D Molin & G Enblad

  3. Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research, Brussels, Belgium

    F Cormont, C Uyttenhove & J van Snick

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Fischer, M., Bijman, M., Molin, D. et al. Increased serum levels of interleukin-9 correlate to negative prognostic factors in Hodgkin's lymphoma. Leukemia 17, 2513–2516 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403123

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