The relationship between circulating interleukin-6 and carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with colorectal cancer.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to clarify whether or not preoperative serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) correlate with well-established prognostic variables (serum level of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), stage, histological grade, lymphatic and venous invasion) in colorectal cancer patients.


METHODS
Serum levels of IL-6 and CEA were determined in 62 patients who underwent resection of colorectal cancer. The patients were divided into two groups based on a selected cut-off value: high and low IL-6 and CEA groups.


RESULTS
The median serum level of IL-6 in colorectal cancer patients was significantly higher than the median level in normal controls (p = 0.0014). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a high serum level of CEA is an independent predictor for a high serum level of IL-6 (odds ratio, 4.10; p = 0.046).


CONCLUSIONS
A high serum level of IL-6 is significantly associated with a high serum level of CEA in preoperative colorectal cancer patients.
Nakagoe
Tohru
T
First Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan. nakagoe@net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Tsuji
Takashi
T
Sawai
Terumitsu
T
Tanaka
Kenji
K
Hidaka
Shigekazu
S
Shibasaki
Shin-Ichi
S
Nanashima
Atsushi
A
Yamaguchi
Hiroyuki
H
Yasutake
Toru
T
Sugawara
Kazuyuki
K
Inokuchi
Naoko
N
Kamihira
Shimeru
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging
D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D015850:Interleukin-6