| Research Abstract |
Skin lesions in mycosis fungoides(MF)and cutaneous type adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (c-ATL)are sometimes difficult to differentiate. Our previous investigations showed that the alpha-chain of IL-2 receptor(IL-2Ralpha)secretion is enhanced in both acute and chronic type ATL.This finding suggested increased levels of IL-2Ralpha in c-ATL which might differentiate it from MF.In this study, we report several observations on IL-2Ralpha levels in MF and c-ATL.1)Plasma levels of IL-2Ralpha detemined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were higher in patients with c-ATL (tumor group, 17,571<plus-minus>5,919 U/ml ; non-tumor group, 4,546<plus-minus>1,788 U/ml)than those of patients with MF(tumor group, 2,352<plus-minus>861 U/ml ; plaque group, 530<plus-minus>174 U/ml). 2) The percentages of IL-2Ralpha-positive cells in sikin lesions of c-ATL were 30.5<plus-minus>13.4% in the non-tumor group and 62.7<plus-minus>12.0% in the tumor group, which were significantly higher than those of MF,plaque group (12.7<plus-minus>5.9%)and tumor group(3.4<plus-minus>2.3%). 3) Further, there was a significant correlation between plasma IL-2Ralpha levels and the number of IL-2Ralpha-positive cells in skin lesions in patients with c-ATL (r=0.654, p<0.0001)and MF (r=0.537, p<0.01) on an individual basis ; whereas no increased IL-2Ralpha levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were observed in patients with either MF or c-ATL.4) Skin lesions of c-ATL had much higher levels of IL-2Ralpha genomic RNA than those of MF in their initial stages when measured by DNase/reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction and liquid hybridization analysis. These findings suggest that increased plasma IL-2Ralpha levels in patients with either MF of c-ATL may be linked to cellular IL-2Ralpha levels in the skin lesions, and thus reflect the difference betwe
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