Predictive value of serum cytokine levels in chronic myeloid leukemia patients

•Cytokine levels in CML patients at diagnosis and therapy outcome were related.•MCP-1 levels were significantly higher in patients with optimal outcome.•TGF-β3 levels were significantly higher in patients with non-optimal outcome.•MCP-1/TGF-β and IL-8/TGF-β combinations have strong predictive power.•Cytokine-based prediction was more powerful than Sokal or EUTOS scores.

Serum samples taken at diagnosis in 28 chronic myeloid leukemia patients were tested for the presence of 20 cytokines by a magnetic bead-based Bio-plex immunoassay. According to complete cytogenetic remission achieved at 12 months of treatment, patients were divided into groups with either optimal or non-optimal outcome. Patients with increased cytokine levels tended to react optimally to the therapy more frequently than those others. TGF-β3 was a notable exception; its levels were significantly higher in patients with non-optimal outcomes. Further analysis enabled us to define two combinations of cytokine cut-off levels - namely low TGF-β3 and either high IL-8 or high MCP-1-each of which corresponded to therapy outcome better than either Sokal or EUTOS scores.