Evaluation of interleukin-9 expression as a potential therapeutic target in chronic lymphocytic leukemia in a cohort of Egyptian patients

Background: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a common lymphoid malignancy that has a highly variable clinical course. Genomic features as zeta-chain-associated protein kinase 70 (ZAP70) expression and CD38 expression provide further differentiation of disease prognosis. Extensive studies have confirmed the oncogenic activities of IL-9 in lymphoma. The aim of the current study was to investigate the contribution of IL-9 expression to the pathogenesis of CLL and its correlation to other prognostic parameters.Methods: This study was conducted on 80 patients at diagnosis with CLL and 80 healthy controls. Using real time polymerase chain reaction and enzyme linked immunosorbant assay, IL-9 mRNA expression and its serum level were compared between patients and controls. They were both correlated with other prognostic factors.Results: There was an overexpression of IL-9 in CLL patients that correlated with modified Rai staging, ZAP70, CD38 and all hallmarks of an active and aggressive disease. The correlation between IL-9 upregulation and patient characteristics provided a direct clinical evidence for its contribution to the pathogenesis of CLL.Conclusions: Significantly higher expression of IL -9 measured at both the mRNA and the protein levels in patients with CLL that correlates with more complex course of the disease and worse prognosis may allow one to speculate its importance in the pathogenesis of the disease and its possible role as a potential therapeutic target

Could procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide (PINP) and bone alkaline phosphatase (B-ALP) be valid alternative diagnostic markers to dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) in elderly females with osteoporosis? An Egyptian radiological and laboratory monocentric study

Abstract Background Osteoporosis is a major health problem of elders. Dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is the commonly used modality for diagnosis osteoporosis; serum markers have been suggested for predicting osteoporosis and discriminate osteoporotic from healthy subjects. We aimed to analyze the status of some bone turnover biochemical markers namely PINP, B-ALP, estrogen, and progesterone in the elderly osteoporotic and osteopenic women as probable markers for the discrimination between patients and healthy individual in diagnosing osteoporosis, and also, to detect the impact of osteoporosis on quality of life of patients using assessment of the quality of life for osteoporosis (ECOS-16). Post-menopausal 108 females were involved in the current study, divided into two groups (osteoporotic group (60 with BMD˂-2.5), osteopenic group (48 with BMD between − 1 and − 2.5)), and 60 healthy elderly females as control group were involved in the study. Serum levels of procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide (PINP), bone alkaline phosphatase (B-ALP), estrogen, and progesterone were measured by ELISA technique. Results PINP and B-ALP significantly differ between studied groups. Also, PINP and B-ALP levels had high sensitivity and specificity to discriminate osteoporotic patients from healthy individuals. PINP and B-ALP significantly correlated with bone mineral density (BMD) and with ECOS-16. Estrogen differs significantly between osteoporotic and osteopenic groups and significantly correlated with bone mineral density of femur (BMD-F) and bone mineral density of spine (BMD-S) in the osteopenic group. Progesterone differed significantly between patients and controls and significantly correlated with BMD-F in the osteoporotic group. Conclusion We can consider PINP and B-ALP as biomarkers for early detection then monitoring of osteoporosis. Measuring these serum markers can replace the assessment of BMD if not available. Also, it could replace the gap between BMD subsequently spaced assessment or could be of value in cases with severe spondylosis, DISH syndrome, old spondylarthritis, and/or previous spinal surgery. Sex hormones could not differentiate the normal from the osteoporotic/osteopenic patients, so they cannot be used as diagnostic or prognostic markers. Validation of this assumption needs large and longitudinal studies