Circulating interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a predictor of response to gemcitabine based chemotherapy in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma

doi:10.1016/j.jiac.2016.12.003

Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy

Volume 23, Issue 4, April 2017, Pages 196-200

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiac.2016.12.003 Get rights and content

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).

Conclusion

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.

Section snippets

Background

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States among both men and women. The majority of these tumors (85%) are adenocarcinomas arising from the ductal epithelium [1], [2]. PC has an extremely high mortality rate due to its aggressive metastatic nature. Factors derived from both genetic and surrounding microenvironment may contribute to this aggressive nature [3]. In PC, severe desmoplastic response is usually observed around the primary tumor [4]

Patients' characteristics

The recorded data of 33 patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of PA, were treated and followed up in our clinic. Chemotherapy (CTx) was given to the majority of the patients with metastatic disease (n = 20, 61%). Drug schemes were applied as follows: combination of gemcitabine with platinum or capecitabine (n = 6 and n = 3), or gemcitabine alone (n = 11). Response to treatment was determined radiologically after 2–3 cycles of CTx according to revised RECIST criteria version 1.1. by

Results

From February 2010 to July 2013, 33 patients with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of PA were enrolled in this study. The baseline histopathological characteristics and the demographic characteristics of the patients are listed in Table 1, Table 2. The median age at diagnosis was 59 years, range 32–84 years; majority of the patients in the group were men (n = 20, 61%). The tumor was located in the head of pancreas in 21 (64%) patients. Thirty-nine percent of the 23 metastatic patients who

Conclusion

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy, for which there are few viable therapeutic options. Because of the absence of effective methods for early detection and the aggressive nature of this disease, the majority of patients present with locally advanced or metastatic cancer not eligible for surgical resection [14]. Chemotherapeutic options for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer are still limited. Gemcitabine has been the standard chemotherapeutic drug for patients with advanced

Conflict of interest

None declared.

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Original ArticleCirculating interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a predictor of response to gemcitabine based chemotherapy in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Section snippets

Background

Patients' characteristics

Results

Conclusion

Conflict of interest

Global cancer statistics

CA Cancer J Clin

Targeting IL-17B-IL-17RB signaling with an anti-IL-17RB antibody blocks pancreatic cancer metastasis by silencing multiple chemokines

J Exp Med

Stromal elements act to restrain, rather than support, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Cancer Cell

Tumor progression: defining the soil round the tumor seed

Curr Biol

Inflammation-associated immune suppression in cancer: the roles played by cytokines, chemokines and additional mediators

Semin Cancer Biol

Expression of ADAM33 is a novel regulatory mechanism in IL-18-secreted process in gastric cancer

J Immunol

Exploitation of interleukin-18 by gastric cancers for their growth and evasion of host immunity

Int J Cancer

Expression and significance of intratumoral interleukin-12 and interleukin-18 in human gastric carcinoma

World J Gastroenterol

Original Article
Circulating interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a predictor of response to gemcitabine based chemotherapy in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma