Is sIL2R Helpful for Diagnosis of Malignant Lymphoma in Neck Lymph Node Swelling?

Abstract

Objective: Soluble interleukin2 receptor (sIL2R) is secreted from activated lymphocytes and is known to be a biomarker of collagen disease, retroviral infection, and malignant lymphoma (ML). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of serum sIL2R value for diagnosis of ML in patients with cervical lymph nodes swelling.

Method: A retrospective study from 155 patients who received open biopsy of a cervical lymph node in suspicion of ML and examined serum sIL2R. The differences of sIL2R value among histology were examined by Mann-Whitney U test, and the diagnostic accuracy of sIL2R value for ML was calculated using ROC analysis.

Results: The patients consisted of 67 B-cell lymphoma, 30 T-cell lymphoma, 15 Hodgkin lymphoma, 11 metastatic carcinoma, and 31 other benign lymphadenopathy including 14 reactive lymphadenitis. The serum sIL2R value was significantly higher in the ML group than the other diseases (P < .001: median 2230 U/mL vs756 U/mL). T-cell lymphoma showed highest sIL2R value (median 4380) among other ML groups (B-cell median 2040 and Hodgkin median 1400). Applying the cut-off value of 1350, which is higher than the reference range (220-530), diagnosis of ML could be predicted with a sensitivity of 70.5% and a specificity of 89.1%.

Conclusion: The value of serum sIL2R was helpful for diagnosis of ML in cervical lymph nodes swelling if the cut-off value was properly applied.