title: Circulating interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a predictor of response to gemcitabine based chemotherapy in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study was conducted to investigate the serum levels of interleukin-18 (IL-18) in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) and the relationship with tumor progression and known prognostic parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-three patients with PA were studied. Serum samples were obtained on first admission before any treatment. Serum IL-18 levels were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Age- and sex-matched 30 healthy controls were included in the analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age at diagnosis was 59 years, range 32-84 years; 20 (61%) patients were men and the remaining were women. The median follow-up time was 26.0 weeks (range: 1.0-184.0 weeks). The median overall survival of the whole group was 41.3 ± 8.3 weeks [95% confidence interval (CI) = 25-58 weeks]. The baseline serum IL-18 levels were significantly higher in patients with PA than in the control group (p < 0.001). Serum IL-18 levels were significantly higher in the patients with high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (p = 0.01 and p = 0.05). Moreover, the chemotherapy-(CTx) unresponsive patients had higher serum IL-18 levels compared to CTx-responsive (p = 0.04) subjects. Conversely, serum IL-18 concentration was found to have no prognostic role on survival (p = 0.45).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum levels of IL-18 can be a good diagnostic and predictive marker; especially for predicting the response to gemcitabine based CTx in patients with PA but it has no prognostic role.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Medical Oncology, Istanbul Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: cigdemusul@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Çiğdem
authors.initials: Ç
authors.lastname: Usul Afsar
authors.affiliation: Clinic of General Surgery, Istanbul Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karabulut
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Senem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karabulut
authors.affiliation: Clinic of General Surgery, Istanbul Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Halil
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alis
authors.affiliation: Clinic of General Surgery, Istanbul Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gonenc
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nergiz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dagoglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Serilmez
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Faruk
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tas
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000097:blood*; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D000093542:Gemcitabine
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D020382:Interleukin-18; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D000093542:Gemcitabine
keywords: Diagnostic; IL-18; Pancreatic adenocarcinoma; Predictive; Serum