The best magazine
Hi. I'm Ron Shapiro. I'm a transplant surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh. Today I want to talk to you about an interesting paper from a group in Toronto, looking at posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) in pediatric solid organ transplant recipients.
The hallmark in making a diagnosis of PTLD early has been to look at the positive predictive value of viral load. The investigators found an interesting association between elevated levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and viral load, with IL-6 being an important marker for both PTLD and elevated viral load. It is thus possible that this additional marker, eg, elevated IL-6, will be useful in helping us to make a diagnosis of PTLD.
One of the problems, particularly in late cases of PTLD, is that it happens rather suddenly, with no particular warning; perhaps markers of additional cytokines -- in this case, IL-6 -- might be useful in the future to help us make an earlier diagnosis of PTLD before it presents as disseminated disease.
Thank you.
Source: ...