The contribution of NK cells and CMV Infection in the clinical course of pediatrics ALL patients / Mohamed Helmy Abdelhamid ; Supervised Abdelrahman N. Zekri , Mahmoud N. Elrouby , Lobna Shalaby

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - National Cancer Institute - Department of Cancer Biology (Virology and Immunology)

Background/Objective: Acute Leukemias are the most common malignant neoplasm in childhood, accounting for about 25-30% Infection with and reactivation of Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), are frequent on those patients causing many critical diseases. The innate immune system plays a critical early role in host defense in response to viruses and tumor cells. Natural Killer cells (NK) have an important number of effector functions, including recognition and lyses of infected, stressed, or transformed cells in particular against cytomegalovirus Patients and methods: a prospective study where 48 patients were tested for HCMV Seropositivity and Viral Load in blood plasma and enumerated the percent and absolute count of Natural Killers at diagnosis and on day 36 of Induction Results: At Diagnosis (Day 0) HCMV IgM was negative in 48/48 (100%), past infection was observed as IgG positive in 21/48 (43.8%) of patients, and upon repeating same laboratory studies at the end of Induction phase (day 36) we observed seroconversion where 48/48 (100%) of patients were negative for IgG, IgM and PCR. The percent of NK cells at diagnosis median 5.6% and the absolute circulating NK cells with median 582 cells/mm3 and The percent of NK cells at end of induction (D36 median 8.8% and the absolute circulating NK cells median 282.15 cells/mm3 Conclusion: CMV had a significant relation with the NK cell repertoires, and may enhance NK cell activity against tumor cells

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