Clinical significance of soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels in the cerebrospinal fluid in patients with adult T-cell leukemia complicated with meningeal infiltration

We measured soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with hematological malignancies especially, adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) with or without meningeal infiltration. CSF levels of sIL-2R were significantly higher in patients with ATL and NHL with meningeal infiltration than in patients with both diseases without meningeal infiltration. The sIL-2R levels in CSF were elevated in 4/4 ATL patients (100%) and 3/13 NHL patients (23%) with meningeal infiltration. CSF levels of sIL-2R from ATL patients with meningeal infiltration had a tendency to elevate in correlation with numbers of mononuclear cells and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) in CSF. However, these had no correlation with serum levels of sIL-2R. Therefore, sIL-2 levels in CSF may be useful in the diagnosis of meningeal infiltration in patients with ATL, are probably specific markers for meningeal infiltration of ATL.