Background and aim: We aimed to quantify monocyte subsets in newly diagnosed pediatric patients with solid tumors at South Egypt Cancer Institute (SECI) and Assiut University Hospital (AUH), and investigate their roles in the treatment outcomes.
Patients and methods: This is a prospective case-controlled study included 100 patients with de novo solid tumors and forty age and sex matched healthy children to provide blood samples as control subjects to determine normal count of monocyte subsets, blood samples were collected from cancer patients before the first cycle of chemotherapy, these blood samples were subjected to routine laboratory tests and assessment of monocyte subsets using flow cytometry.
Results: Significant accumulations of intermediate monocytes and non classical monocytes (P< 0.000) in pediatric cases compared to controls were detected, there was a significant impact of non classical and intermediate monocytes on the type of response (P< 0.008, P< 0.4 respectively), The median OS for 100 patients with pediatric solid tumors involved in our study was 27 ± 0.589 months with 95% CI = 25.846-28.154, while the median PFS was 26 ± 0.610 months with 95% CI = 24.805-27.195, significant positive correlation between non-classical monocytes and OS (r=+0.659, P< 0.041).
Conclusion: Solid conclusion regarding the impact of monocyte classes in pediatric tumors is premature, although, in this study, non-classical and intermediate monocytes were associated with better response to treatment in pediatric solid tumors and non-classical monocytes were correlated with higher overall survival; further studies are needed for better understanding and specification of monocyte functions in different pediatric tumors.
Keywords: Monocytes; overall survival; pediatric solid tumors; progression free survival.