KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the correlation between Th17/Tregs in the peripheral blood of patients with ND AML and disease progression.
- The study found that elevated levels of Th17 and Treg cells were associated with AML onset, poor remission, and MRD.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer that disrupts the body’s normal blood production. A hallmark of AML is immune dysregulation, where the immune system malfunctions and fails to control the leukemia cells. This weakened immune response allows AML to progress.
Zhimin Wang and the team aimed to investigate the relationship between T helper cell 17 (Th17) and regulatory cells (Tregs) in the peripheral blood of newly diagnosed (ND) AML patients, along with bone marrow blast cells and minimal residual disease (MRD) pre-and post-treatment.
The study observed alterations in Th17 and Treg cell counts in the peripheral blood of 32 ND AML patients undergoing induction chemotherapy. Treatment consisted of 7 days of cytarabine and 3 days of anthracycline. Inflammatory cytokine levels were determined via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Pearson’s correlation test was utilized to analyze the association between bone marrow blast cells and Th17/Treg cell frequencies. Flow cytometry assessed Th17/Treg cell frequencies and MRD.
The results showed a progressive rise in IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, and GM-CSF levels among ND AML patients, regardless of their response to treatment (complete remission [CR] or no response [NR]). There was a positive correlation between the proportions of Th17 and Treg cells and blast cells.
Furthermore, patients positive for MRD exhibited higher frequencies of Th17 and Treg cells compared to MRD-negative patients, both initially and after 3 months of chemotherapy. The frequencies of Tregs and Th17 cells were positively associated with the onset of MRD.
The study showed that increased levels of Th17 and Treg cells were positively correlated with the onset of AML, poor remission, and MRD.
Funding was provided by the Shandong Province Medical and Health Technology Development Plan Project.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38682816/
Wang Z, Liu T, Li Y, et al. (2024) “Increased Th17 and Treg levels in peripheral blood positively correlate with minimal residual disease in acute myeloid leukemia.” Hematology. 2024 Dec;29(1):2346971. doi: 10.1080/16078454.2024.2346971. Epub 2024 Apr 29. PMID: 38682816.
