SERUM sFAS IN NON-HODGKIN'S LYMPHOMA

Abstract

Background: Lymphomas are a heterogenous group of malignancies of B or T cells that usually originate in the lymph nodes. They are divided into Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. Disruption of the physiological balance between cell proliferation and death is a universal feature of all cancers. There has been an increasing interest in the role of apoptosis in tumorogenesis of lymphoma. On the molecular base apoptosis is caused by activation of the caspases through extrinsic and intrinsic pathways. Extrinsic pathway centers on tumor necrosis factor family, where the ligand will bind to the cell surface receptor and this in turn will induce apoptosis. Fas receptor is a member of the TNF/NGF receptor superfamily. Fas family is constituted of the receptor, ligand and soluble form. Soluble Fas will compete with Fas receptor for binding to ligand, thus interfering with Fas-L-mediated apoptosis.Objective: To measure the level of serum sFas in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and to determine the correlations of it with certain clinical and hematological parameters and chemotherapy treatment.Patients and Methods: This study included 30 patients with NHL (19 males and 11 females), of them 14 patients were newly diagnosed along with 30 apparently healthy controls were involved in this study. The patients were interviewed with history taking, clinical examination and aspirating blood sample for estimation of serum sFas concentration using sandwich ELISA kit (from Chemicon). Also serum CRP level, plasma LDH level, hemoglobin concentration, platelets count, WBC count and peripheral blood film were all performed using standard techniques.Results: This study revealed that the serum sFas concentration was significantly higher in NHL patients than in healthy controls (p = 0.0001). This increase was significantly higher in pretreated patients and closely related to the pathological grade of NHL (p = 0.0002 and 0.0035 respectively).Conclusions: Serum sFas is a simple, non-invasive and clinically useful laboratory parameter .It maybe used as an auxiliary marker to assess the prognosis and the therapeutic planning in NHL.Keywords: Fas, NHL.