Gene expression of cytokines suppressing hematopoietic progenitor cells in lymphoid malignancies.

The expression of cytokine genes for tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha), lymphotoxin and transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta), all of which are known to suppress normal hematopoiesis, was investigated in 32 patients with lymphoid malignancies using Northern blot analysis. Messenger RNA (mRNA) for TNF alpha, lymphotoxin and TGF beta was detected in 9 cases, 2 cases and 7 cases, respectively. When the relationship between cytokine gene expression and surface phenotype was analyzed, the expression of CD19 correlated significantly with expression of the TNF alpha gene (P less than 0.05). This suggests that B cell malignancies are likely to produce TNF alpha. When the hematological parameters of patients expressing and not expressing the gene were compared, the expression of TNF alpha mRNA was found to correlate with more profound anemia in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (P less than 0.05). Both granulocyte and platelet counts were lower in patients expressing TNF alpha mRNA; however, the decreases were not significant. Neither lymphotoxin nor TGF beta gene expression correlated significantly with any hematological parameter.