title: Prognostic relevance of soluble interleukin-2 receptors in patients with ovarian tumors.
abstract: Soluble interleukin-2 receptors (sIL-2R) are measurable in the sera of patients with ovarian cancer and several other benign and malignant diseases. However, the function of these sIL-2R is still unclear. Since high levels of sIL-2R are thought to be an indicator of an activated immune system we investigated the correlation of sIL-2R concentration and prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. sIL-2R measurement was performed on the preoperative sera of 130 patients with benign, and 119 patients with malignant ovarian tumors. The IMMULITE sIL-2R assay by DPC Biermann, Bad Nauheim, Germany was used. In ovarian cancer patients sIL-2R concentrations were significantly higher than in those with benign tumors. By defining the 95th percentile of the sIL-2R concentration distribution in patients with benign diseases as the cut-off (1200 U/ml) 35% of the ovarian cancer patients had elevated concentrations. Concentrations of sIL-2R increased with FIGO stage. FIGO-III patients with highly elevated sIL-2R concentrations tended to have better prognosis than those with sIL-2R levels within normal range in contrast to FIGO IV patients. Since sIL-2R concentrations indicate an immunological activation in ovarian cancer patients our data give hints of the possible role of sIL-2R in the assessment of the risk of recurrence in ovarian cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. gerhard.gebauer@rzmail.uni-erlangen.de
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gebauer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rieger
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jäger
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lang
mesh_terms: D000232:Adenofibroma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D003537:Cystadenoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D003884:Dermoid Cyst / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010048:Ovarian Cysts / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2