title: Preoperative levels of serum interleukin-6 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A high prevalence of serum IL-6 has been associated with the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in both animals and humans. However, it is not clear how the levels of serum IL-6 influence the prognosis of HCC patients. This study was carried out in order to attempt to answer this question.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 156 adults were selected and categorized into four groups: healthy subjects (n=18), those with tumor recurrence (n=26), those initially diagnosed with HCC (n=32), and those with HCC (n=80) who received curative resection between 2002 and 2004 with five years of follow-up. Serum IL-6 levels were determined in all subjects by the same ELISA method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  IL-6 was found in high levels in the serum of patients initially diagnosed with HCC (8.47±5.92, p<0.0001) and in patients with HCC and tumor recurrence (12±31.90, p=0.001) compared with healthy subjects (0.89±1.51). This includes all patients who received therapy between 2007 and 2008. The levels of serum IL-6 were positively correlated with tumor size (p=0.002) in the HCC patients who received curative resection between 2002 and 2004 with five years of follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High levels of serum IL-6 correlated positively with tumor size and with poor prognosis in HCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary, Oncology Cancer Center, China.
authors.forename: Xiong-Hao
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Jing-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yao-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Xiao-Qing
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: Ya-Qi
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jin-Qing
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Min-Shan
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059035:Perioperative Period; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015850:Interleukin-6