A recent study found that severe inflammation reduces the body’s ability to kill malignant blood cells from cancer in people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Experiments with human cells also revealed how increased levels of inflammation, characterized by an aggressive reaction by bone marrow immune cells, altered the composition of B and T lymphocytes needed to fight cancer like a invading bacteria or virus.
Using bone marrow samples from 20 adults and 22 children with this deadly disease, researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center were able to score each patient’s level of inflammation.
These iScores were correlated with survival rates, with those with the lowest iScores typically surviving the longest. Leukemic patients with high iScores died at least four years earlier than those with low levels of inflammation.
The new “iScore” system can be added to existing tools to measure the severity of AML and used by doctors and patients when deciding on immunotherapy, chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation, say the NYU researchers.
“Our scoring system provides an easy tool for physicians and patients to gauge the risk of inflammation associated with their leukemia and adjust their treatment plans accordingly to manage this risk,” says study co-principal investigator Dr. Audrey Lasry.
The study also demonstrated that bone marrow levels of dysfunctional immune B cells were also related to inflammation in both adults and children with AML. A dozen genetic mutations, or errors in the genetic code, were found to be linked to elevated scores and patients with severe cases of the disease.
“Our study provides the first detailed description of how inflammation alters the tumor microenvironment in AML in both adults and children,” said study co-principal investigator Bettina Nadorp, MD, also a postdoctoral fellow at the Grossman School of Medicine. NYU and the Perlmutter Cancer Center.
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