Effect of Hydroxyurea Treatment on the Inflammatory Markers Among Children With Sickle Cell Disease.
Asmaa M ZahranAsmaa NafadyKhaled SaadHelal F HettaAlam-Eldin M AbdallahSafwat M Abdel-AzizMostafa M EmbabyAmir M Abo ElgheetSanaa F DarwishMohamed Gamil M Abo-ElelaAmira ElhoufeyKhalid I ElsayhPublished in: Clinical and applied thrombosis/hemostasis : official journal of the International Academy of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis (2020)
Hydroxyurea significantly improves most of the hematological parameters in children with SCD. The percentages of hemoglobin fraction S, serum levels of TNF-α and IL-6 were significantly decreased when compared to baseline value but did not reach the value of the healthy control. The HU treatment led to a significant decrease in NLR compared to the baseline values and reached healthy control values. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was positively correlated with hs-CRP, TNF-α, and IL-8 serum levels and negatively correlated with percentage of fetal hemoglobin and hematocrit values. The cutoff value of NLR to expect a response to HU among SCD was 3.0, with 76% specificity and 85% sensitivity (area under the curve: 0.85, P < .0001). In conclusion, hydroxyurea induced a decrease in NLR and inflammatory cytokines, which represent a biomarker of inflammation in SCD. The calculation of NLR is a straightforward and cheap method for SCD outcome prediction in young children.