Transient hyperlipidemia during treatment of ALL with L-asparaginase is related to decreased lipoprotein lipase activity

A 13-year-old girl with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) developed extremely high plasma triglyceride (TG) concentrations of 103 mmol/l (reference value < 1.8 mmol/l) during combination treatment with corticosteroids and asparaginase. Corticosteroids are known to induce the production of TG-rich particles. On the other hand, corticosteroids increase the activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), a key enzyme in the removal of TG from plasma. Generally, the increased LPL activity prevents an extreme rise in TG levels upon therapy with corticosteroids. In our patient, we found that the corticosteroid-induced LPL activity dramatically declined after therapy with L-asparaginase. This suggests that the extensive hypertriglyceridemia in our patient was due to an L-asparaginase-induced decrease in LPL activity. This hypothesis was further supported by the finding that hypertriglyceridemia was less severe when corticosteroids and asparaginase were given separately.