Viral infections, in particular EBV, HHV and HPV, have been shown to increase susceptibility to developing cancer, but also patients with defects in immune regulation, such as Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (ALPS), activated p110delta syndrome (APDS type 1) and IL-10 receptor deficiency among others have a higher incidence of neoplastic disease, particularly lymphomas.
In a cohort of autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome patients (n = 93), IL-10 showed a strong inverse correlation with HDL-C (R(2) = 0.3720, P < .0001).
Strikingly, Bim levels in DNTC correlated significantly with serum IL-10 in ALPS patients, and IL-10 was sufficient to mildly induce Bim in normal and ALPS T cells via a Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3-dependent mechanism.
Biomarkers including elevated CD3+TCRαβ+CD4-CD8- double negative T cells (TCRαβ+ DNT), IL-10, sCD95L and vitamin B12 can be used to differentiate between ALPS and common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) patients with an overlapping clinical phenotype.
Similar to ALPS type Ia patients, the somatic ALPS patients had increased DNT cell numbers and elevated levels of serum vitamin B(12), interleukin-10, and sFAS-L.
Overall, we showed that determination of the FAS-L represents, together with the IL-10 concentration and the DNT cell percentage, a reliable tool for the diagnosis of ALPS.