IL-8-Positive Tumor-Infiltrating Inflammatory Cells Are a Novel Prognostic Marker in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Patients.
OBJECTIVE
Tumor-infiltrating inflammatory cells (TIICs) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are reported to initiate and exacerbate invasion and metastasis. Interleukin-8 (IL-8), a proinflammatory cytokine, is expressed in both neoplastic cells and TIICs in PDAC tissues and increased in patient serum. The aim of this study is to evaluate the values of IL-8 expression profiles in tumor tissues and predict the source of serum IL-8 in PDAC patients.


METHODS
We used 2 independent groups of PDAC patient samples that included 240 cases. Tissue expression profiles of cytokines were evaluated with immunohistochemistry and serum levels with human IL-8 assay. The prognostic values of the variables were assessed by Kaplan-Meier or Cox regression analysis.


RESULTS
Higher levels of IL-8-positive TIICs but not tumor cells in PDAC patients correlated with worse prognosis (P = 0.009) and higher blood serum IL-8 levels (P = 0.002). Controlling other independent factors, the relative hazard ratio for PDAC with higher IL-8-positive TIIC levels compared with those with lower TIIC levels was 1.588 (95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.42).


CONCLUSIONS
Higher IL-8-positive TIIC levels in PDAC tumors indicate poorer prognosis and positively correlate with serum IL-8 concentrations and vice versa. These data suggested that IL-8 might have a potential target for PDAC therapies.
From the *Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital; †The State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences; and ‡School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Yuan
Y
Fang
Hexige
H
Saiyin
Xinping
X
Zhao
Yanhua
Y
Wu
Xu
X
Han
Wenhui
W
Lou
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C508606:CXCL8 protein, human; D016209:Interleukin-8