الفهرس 
Abstract
Acute leukemiaOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Acute leukemia is a malignant disease that results in the accumulation of immature, functionless cells in the marrow and blood. T helper type 17 (Th17) cells, a novel subset of CD4+ T cells that secrete interleukin-17 (IL-17), have an impact on solid tumors. There is a strikingly high frequency of Th17 cells in many of haematological malignancies. The current study was designed to evaluate the frequencies of Th17 cells in patients with acute leukemia and to examine its relation with clinical parameters and the effect of treatment. Flow cytometry was used to analyze percentages of Th17 cells in peripheral blood samples from 80 acute leukemia patients (ALL, acute lymphocytic leukemia, n=25; AML, acute myeloid leukemia, n=55) and 20 healthy volunteers. Circulating Th17 cells were increased in patients with acute leukemia and were significantly higher than in healthy controls. However, Th17 cells can not differentiate between different acute leukemia types, FAB subtypes, cytopenia types, sex nor organomegaly types of acute leukemia patients. Also high circulating pretreatment level of Th17 cells correlated with favorable response to therapy in acute leukemia patients as well as favorable response to cycles of induction chemotherapy in AML patients. The circulating pretreatment level of Th17 cells is affected by age and peripheral blood blast cell level of acute leukemia patients since a significant positive correlation existed between age of acute leukemia patients and their circulating level of Th17 cells; while a significant negative correlation was found between bone marrow blast cell level and circulating level of Th17 cells. These results strongly suggest Th17 cells as a powerful prognostic determinant which could serve as a potential immunotherapeutic target in acute leukemia patients.