title: Interleukin-6 serum levels in patients with gynecological tumors.
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 > 95% of normal healthy women exhibited values within the range of 1.9-6 pg/ml. Using a cut-off of 6 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 of 9 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Catholic University, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scambia
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Testa
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Panici
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Martucci
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Foti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amoroso
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Masciullo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peschle
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mancuso
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D012016:Reference Values; D012086:Reoperation; D016019:Survival Analysis; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D015850:Interleukin-6