Reduced ADAMTS-13 level negatively correlates with inflammation factors in plasma of acute myeloid leukemia patients

ADAMTS-13 is crucial for maintaining the normal size of vWF. Besides thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), decreased ADAMTS-13 had also been reported in patients with malignancy. However, the knowledge of expression and potential role of ADAMTS-13 in hematological malignancies is still limited. We measured and compared ADAMTS-13 levels in the plasma of 82 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients and 34 healthy controls and found that AML patients possessed lower ADAMTS-13 than controls. AML patients with infections possessed lower level of ADAMTS-13 than patients without infections and ADAMTS-13 levels were negatively correlated with C-reactive protein(CRP), IL-6, TNFα and IL-1β. Furthermore, high risk AML patients are with lower ADAMTS-13 than patients with low risk. ADAMTS-13 negatively correlated with ISTH scores and patients accompanying DIC possessed lower ADAMTS-13.Multivariate analyses proved that low level of ADAMTS-13 is an independent risk factor for AML outcome. To conclude, ADAMTS-13 levels are decreased in plasma of AML patients and the level of ADAMTS-13 is related to inflammation and infection of AML patients. Besides, low ADAMTS-13 level is one potential risk factor for AML patients.