Objective: To study the relationship between the episode and state of acute leukemia and the level of soluble L-selectin (sL-selectin) in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid.
Methods: With a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the levels of sL-selectin in the plasma of 40 patients with acute leukemia and in the cerebrospinal fluid of 28 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were measured, and compared with 20 controls.
Results: The levels of sL-selectin were significantly higher in the patients with untreated and therapy-resistant acute leukemia or leukemia relapse than those in the complete remission patients and the controls (P < 0.001). The levels of SL-selectin were related to the clinical course of acute leukemia.
Conclusion: Monitoring the sL-selectin level may be useful for evaluating leukemia activity, in particular for the detection of leukemia relapse and meningeal infiltration.