Work

The Imbalanced Patterns and Clinical Significance of Cytokines in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Microenvironment

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Introduction Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is known for its unfavorable prognosis, prompting research efforts of cytokines in the microenvironment to explore new therapeutic targets. Here, we investigated the complex cytokine networks in both AML mice and AML patients to reveal the role of cytokines in AML pathogenesis. Methods As a basis for further studies on human, the patterns of cytokines were detected in AML mice by cytokine array panel, and the patterns of cytokines were detected in AML patients by Luminex liquid suspension chip and ELISA. Leukocyte subpopulations in human were analyzed by flow cytometry. Additionally, the associations of cytokine levels with the outcome of AML patients were analyzed by Cox regression analysis, the overall survival curve was assessed by Kaplan‐Meier method. Furthermore, Pearson correlation analysis was used for the correlation analysis of continuous variables. Results The imbalanced patterns of cytokines were observed in AML mice. Furthermore, higher levels of CCL3, CCL4 and CXCL10, independent of sex, age, FAB phenotype, patient status and risk molecular, were associated with the poor outcome of AML patients recruited in our study by Cox regression analysis. Additionally, the survival analysis demonstrated that the CCL3 high group had a shorter overall survival than the CCL3 low group, and a similar result was observed in the analysis of CXCL10. The correlation analysis revealed that Treg cells may be related to the increase of CCL3, while B cell may be associated with for the changes of CXCL10 in AML microenvironment. Conclusion The imbalanced patterns of cytokines were observed in both AML mice and AML patients. Interestingly, 3 cytokines (CCL3, CCL4 and CXCL10) were related to the outcome of AML patients, suggesting they are valuable for AML prognosis. Furthermore, the change of leukocyte subpopulations, either as causes or as consequences, may partially account for the change of cytokines in AML condition.

Source: Immunity Inflammation and Disease

DOI: 10.1002/iid3.70290

Authors: Rong Wang, Keying Jing, Huijuan Zhao, Guoguang Zheng, Jun Cai