Serum hepcidin levels related to interlukin-6 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia before and after treatment

BACKGROUND: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous malignant disease of hematopoietic tissue. It is characterized by accumulation of abnormal blast cells mainly in bone marrow. Hepcidin is a small bioactive peptide hormone produced in many tissues mainly by the liver, macrophage, and adipocyte and it has been proposed as a marker of inflammation. The aims of study were to assess the changes in serum levels of hepcidin, interleukin-6, and ferritin in addition to iron-binding capacity levels in patients with AML before and after chemotherapy treatment and to compare their levels to healthy controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study includes 43 AML patients (24 males and 19 females). They were divided into two groups: Group 1: Patients with AML before starting chemotherapy and Group 2: after chemotherapy. The protocol used was (3 + 7) where doxorubicin was given from day 1 to day 3 and Cytarabine (Ara-C) was given from day 1 to day 7 then evaluation is done on 28th day to evaluate response of patients. The control group (Group 3) included 43 healthy controls (24 males and 19 females) who were matched with patients group in gender and age. RESULTS: Serum samples were investigated before and after treatment and compared with its corresponding data of healthy control group and then statistically analyzed. Results revealed that: the prevalence of AML was higher in males than in females. Hepcidin levels were significantly higher in serum of (AML) patients (Group 2) compared to newly diagnosed (Group 1) and to healthy controls (P < 0.0001). Serum (interleukin-6) levels were higher but not statistically significant in (Group 1) when compared to (Group 2) while it was statistically significantly when compared to healthy controls (P < 0.214 and P < 0.0001, respectively). Regarding serum levels of ferritin and total iron capacity (TIBC) predicted highly significant increase for all patients when compared to controls. CONCLUSION: Hepcidin and interleukin-6 may be used as diagnostic criteria for treatment response of AML and also can utilized as biomarkers for the progression of the AML.