Serum levels of endothelium-derived endocan are increased inpatients with untreated acute myeloid leukemia

Abstract

Endocan is a soluble proteoglycan expressed only by vascular endotheliumand is also found circulating in the bloodstream. Inflammatory cytokines aswell as proangiogenic growth factors increase its expression, and increasedserum levels are found in immunocompetent patients with sepsis. We investigatedserum endocan levels in patients with untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML)and AML patients during chemotherapy-induced bone marrow failure. We observedincreased levels in 40 AML patients compared with healthy controls, whichwas also confirmed in a second cohort. The serum levels decreased after intensivechemotherapy and subsequent severe chemotherapy-induced cytopenia, and increasedlevels were thereafter observed during bone marrow regeneration. However,even for these severely immunocompromized patients, serum endocan levels increasedduring complicating bacterial infections before a decrease was seen duringantibiotic therapy. To conclude, serum endocan is a disease marker in AML,but serum levels are also affected by complicating infections and bone marrowregeneration.