Effect of Lymphocyte Count and AML Prognosis

Abstract

Studies revealed a relationship between lymphocyte count and prognosis of certain cancers. Some studies found that decreased absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) correlates to poorer outcomes of the cancers. Many studies were done and revealed important prognostic factors of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but prognosis of AML is not always promising. In order to improve prognosis of AML, other unknown independent prognostic factors should be evaluated and studied. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of ALC on prognosis of AML. A total of 259 AML patients were selected for the final analysis. The patients were >18 year-old newly diagnosed AML patients, received induction treatment between January 2008 to June 2013 and got partial or complete responses from the induction therapy. Both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that higher-than-normal ALC at diagnosis has a positive correlation with poorer AML outcomes. This study concluded that higher-than-normal ALC at diagnosis of the disease was associated with shorter remission, relapse-free survival and overall survival durations. Lower-than-normal ALC at remission was associated with a longer overall survival duration while ALC at remission was not statistically significant in remission and relapse-free survival durations. Further studies are needed to evaluate frequency of Treg cells, a subpopulation of T cells that is known as immune activation inhibitor, since high frequency of Treg cells may result in increased ALC.