Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 28, Issue 1 12-15, Copyright © 1998 by Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research
S Okada, T Okusaka, H Ishii, A Kyogoku, M Yoshimori, N Kajimura, K Yamaguchi and T Kakizoe
The vast majority of pancreatic cancer patients have advanced disease at
the time of diagnosis and they eventually become so emaciated that death
primarily occurs from cancer cachexia. Cancer cachexia may be mediated by
certain cytokines such as interleukin-6. In this study, we measured serum
interleukin-6 levels in 55 patients with histologically proven pancreatic
cancer and investigated their relationships to the clinical status of
pancreatic cancer. A control population of 20 normal healthy adults and 25
chronic pancreatitis patients with comparable gender and age distribution
characteristics was also studied. Serum interleukin-6 levels were measured
using a quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Thirty
pancreatic cancer patients (54.5%) had detectable levels, although
interleukin-6 levels were detectable in only one healthy control and in two
chronic pancreatitis patients. The specificity of serum interleukin-6 in
this population was 93.3%, resulting in high diagnostic accuracy (72.0%).
Among the pancreatic cancer patients, the detection rates of serum
interleukin-6 levels increased significantly with the disease extent (p
< 0.01). Moreover, a significant difference was also found in the
detection rates between the 30 pancreatic cancer patients with body weight
loss (76.7%) and the remaining 25 patients without weight loss (28.0%, p
< 0.01). These results may provide new insight into both diagnosis and
treatment of pancreatic cancer, because the diagnostic accuracy of serum
interleukin-6 was high and because anti-interleukin-6 therapeutics could
improve symptoms in pancreatic cancer patients with high interleukin-6
levels.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Elevated serum interleukin-6 levels in patients with pancreatic cancer
Department of Internal Medicine, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
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