Balance between interleukin-10 and interleukin-12 in adult cancer patients with or without infections.
Reliable markers for identifying infections in cancer patients on admission are lacking. The utility of the balance between interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-12 was analysed in this respect. The infection group (n=56) had higher median serum levels of IL-10 (3.8 pg/ml; interquartile range (IQR) 1.7-11.4 pg/ml versus 1.8 pg/ml; IQR 0.6-4.6 pg/ml; P=0.005) and IL-10 to IL-12 ratio (0.4; IQR 0.06-4.23pg/ml versus 0.05; IQR 0.02-0.31pg/ml; P<0.001) than the non-infection group (n=36). IL-10 and the ratio had the following figures of sensitivity (79%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 66-88 versus 39%; 95% CI 27-53), specificity (40%; 95% CI 12-74 versus 90%; 95% CI 56-100) and positive predictive value (88%; 95% CI 76-96 versus 96%; 95% CI 78-100) for identifying infections (56 cases with infection and 10 with neoplastic fever), and the corresponding area under curve (AUC) values for IL-10 and the ratio in identifying infections in general were 0.58; 95% CI 0.39-0.78 versus 0.64; 95% CI 0.46-0.82 and in bacteraemia 0.71; 95% CI 0.50-0.92 versus 0.75; 95% CI 0.58-0.93, respectively. Thus, IL-10 can be used as a screening method for identifying infections in cancer patients and the ratio of IL-10 to IL-12 for confirming the diagnosis.
Kallio
R
R
Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Oulu University Hospital FIN-90220, Oulu, Finland. raija.kallio@oulu.fi
Surcel
H M
HM
Bloigu
A
A
Syrjälä
H
H
D019540:Area Under Curve; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood*; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D015415:Biomarkers; D016753:Interleukin-10; D018664:Interleukin-12