Whitehead TP, Joseph L Wiemels, Mi Zhou, et al. - Researchers examined if childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) involves a relevant etiological role of prenatal immune development. Blood spots obtained at birth from 1,020 ALL cases and 1,003 controls participating in the California Childhood Leukemia Study were assessed for seven cytokines - interleukin 1β (IL1β), IL4, IL6, IL8, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Findings revealed presence of higher levels of a group of ALL linked cytokines at birth in ALL patients relative to controls [IL1β: OR of 1.18 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.35); IL8: 1.19 (1.03, 1.38); TNFα: 1.15 (1.01, 1.30); VEGF: 1.16 (1.01, 1.33)]. This was particularly observed among children of Latina mothers and for ALL with high hyperdiploidy. This suggest that children born with altered cytokine levels are set on a trajectory towards an elevated risk for subsequent aberrant immune reactions that can initiate ALL.