Loss of tissue expression of interleukin-10 promotes the disease progression of colorectal carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a unique cytokine that is thought to be a potent immunostimulatory and immunosuppressive factor. The aim of this study was to investigate IL-10 expression in colorectal cancer, and clarify its relationship to the clinicopathological findings and prognosis.


METHODS
Tissue samples were collected from 92 patients with colorectal cancer and adjacent normal mucosa. The expression of IL-10 in colorectal cancer tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Tissue levels of IL-10 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.


RESULTS
The mean concentration of IL-10 did not significantly differ between the cancer tissue and adjacent normal mucosa. The IL-10 concentration in cancer tissue with positive staining immunohistochemically was significantly higher than that without IL-10 staining. The IL-10 level in cancer tissue decreased in accordance with advanced-stage serosal invasion and lymph node involvement, and thus predicted poor survival in patients undergoing surgery with curative intent. A Cox multivariate analysis demonstrated that a decreased IL-10 level in cancer tissue was an independent risk factor for poor survival.


CONCLUSIONS
The tumor IL-10 level in colorectal cancer was inversely correlated with serosal invasion and lymph node metastasis, which thus reflected tumor progression. Evaluating the tumor expression of IL-10 may therefore provide valuable information for predicting the long-term survival in patients undergoing surgery with curative intent.
Toiyama
Yuji
Y
Department of Gastrointestinal and Pediatric Surgery, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu, Mie, 514-8507, Japan.
Miki
Chikao
C
Inoue
Yasuhiro
Y
Minobe
Sayaka
S
Urano
Hiroko
H
Kusunoki
Masato
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D018450:Disease Progression; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D007564:Japan; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors
D016753:Interleukin-10