Serum Lipid Profile Alterations in Acute Leukemia Before and After Chemotherapy

Background: Serum lipids abnormalities have been observed in various forms of cancers including acute leukemia. Investigators report decreased total cholesterol and HDL, and elevated triglyceride in leukemic patients. Limited studies had been performed to discover the correlation between abnormal lipids profile and disease activity in leukemic patients in Iran. This study was done to evaluate the levels of serum lipid in Iranian leukemic patients, before and after chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: Seventy eight recently diagnosed and non-treated patients with acute leukemia were included in our study. Blood specimens were collected without anticoagulant before and after chemotherapy serum was separated and total cholesterol, serum triglyceride, high density lipoprotein cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were assessed by enzymatic kits. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS16.0. Results: The mean age of patients was 24.87 years (range 9-52), with newly diagnosed ALL in 48 patients and AML in 30 patients. From the participating patients 42(53.8%) were male and 36(46.2%) were female. Data analysis showed that the mean total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, in all age groups and in both sexes, were significantly lower before chemotherapy than after whereas, mean triglyceride was higher before therapy than after. Conclusion: Based on our findings, it seems that lipid profile assessment can be employed as beneficial prognostic factor in acute leukemia. Besides, it can be a simple, fast and economical method to follow up the patients’ response to chemotherapy. Key words: Acute Leukemia, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride.