OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of IFN-α on cytokines in serum of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia(CML).

METHODSFifty patients with CML from March 2012 to December 2015 in our hospital were randomly divided into routine treatment group (n=25) and combined treatment group (n=25), 30 healthy persons were selected as control (control group). The CML patients in routine treatment group were given orally hydroxyurea, the CML patients in combined treatment group were treated with recombinant human interferon α2b injection based on routine treatment (hydroxyurea plus IFN-α group). The levels of ALP, IL-6, PGE-2, MMP-2, and bFGF in serum were detected by ELISA. The cytogenetic, molecular and hematologic responses of patients in routine treatment group and combined treatment group, including patients in chronic and accelerated blastic phases were compared after 6 weeks of treatment.

RESULTSThe servum levels of ALP, IL-6, PGE-2, MMP-2 and bFGF in CML patients with chronic and accelerated blastic phases all were higher than those in control group(P<0.05). The levels of MMP-2 and bFGF in CML patients with chronic phase were highr than those of CML patients with accelerated blastic phase (P<0.05), the levels of ALP, PGE-2 and IL-6 of patients with chronic phase were significantly lower than those of patients in accelerated blastic phase (P<0.05). The ALP, IL-6, PGE-2, MMP-2 and bFGF levels in combined treatment group were significantly lower than those in the routine treatment group after 2 weeks and 6 weeks of treatment(P<0.05); After the end of treatment, the CHR of routine treatment group was 56%, which was lower than that of combined treatment group 84%(χ=18.667, P<0.001); the CCyR of routine treatment group was 32% which was significantly higher than 12% in combined treatment group(χ=11.655, P<0.001); the CMR of routine treatment group was 12% that was significantly higher than 4% in combined treatment group (χ=4.347, P=0.037). The median survival time of routine treatment group was significantly shorter than that of the combined treatment group, but there was no significant difference during follow-up (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONIFN-α can alleviate the symptoms of patients with CML and inhibit the process of disease with CML patients, effectively inhibit the expression of disease-related cytokines.