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Interleukin‐6 serum levels in patients with gynecological tumors
Author(s) -
Scambia Giovanni,
Testa Ugo,
Panici Pierluigi Bendetti,
Martucci Robert,
Foti Elvira,
Petrini Marina,
Amoroso Mariangela,
Masciullo Valeria,
Peschle Cesare,
Mancuso Salvatore
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910570305
Subject(s) - ovarian cancer , medicine , gastroenterology , univariate analysis , cancer , endometrial cancer , cervical cancer , chemotherapy , ovarian tumor , stage (stratigraphy) , multivariate analysis , biology , paleontology
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.