Interleukin-6 serum levels in patients with gynecological tumors

✍ Scribed by Giovanni Scambia; Ugo Testa; Pierluigi Bendetti Panici; Robert Martucci; Elvira Foti; Marina Petrini; Mariangela Amoroso; Valeria Masciullo; Cesare Peschle; Salvatore Mancuso

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 648 KB
• Volume: 57
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910570305

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Serum levels of IL‐6 were evaluated in a large group of patients with benign or malignant gynecological tumors. The results obtained were correlated with the patients' clinicopathological features and follow‐up data. Using a highly sensitive immunoenzymatic method for the evaluation of serum IL‐6 levels, we observed that > 5% of normal healthy women exhibited values within the range of 1.9‐6 pg/ml. Using a cut‐off of pg/ml, elevated levels of serum IL‐6 were found in 53% of 45 patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer and less frequently in patients with endometrial and cervical cancer (37% and 10% respectively). Elevated levels of IL‐6 were occasionally seen in patients with benign disease. IL‐6 serum levels appeared to be less sensitive than CA 125 in ovarian cancer diagnosis. In cancer patients, increased IL‐6 serum levels were related to the presence of the tumor since all post‐operative patients exhibited a marked decrease. In patients with advanced ovarian cancer post‐operative levels of IL‐6 correlated with residual disease. Very high levels of IL‐6 were observed in the ascitic fluid of9 ovarian cancer patients, but IL‐6 mRNA was not detected in tumor cells. This suggests that the increased production of IL‐6 observed in ovarian cancer is reactive. Higher levels of IL‐6 were found in patients unresponsive to chemotherapy, as compared with responsive ones. Univariate analysis of survival data suggests that increased IL‐6 serum levels correlate with negative prognosis. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.