Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate the immunological status of patients with gastric cancer before surgery, we investigated the relationship between serum interleukin-12 (IL-12) levels and clinicopathological factors.
Methods
We measured serum IL-12 levels in 127 patients with gastric cancer and 35 healthy controls, by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using the Human IL-12 +p40 Immunoassay kit.
Results
The serum IL-12 levels in the patients with gastric cancer were significantly higher than those of the healthy controls (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in disease stage or gross appearance among the cancer groups, but the serum IL-12 levels in patients with T4 disease were significantly lower than those in patients with T1, T2, or T3 (P < 0.01). There were no significant differences in serum IL-12 levels between patients with and those without lymph node, liver, or peritoneal metastasis. The serum IL-12 levels in patients with distant metastasis were significantly lower than those in patients without distant metastasis (P < 0.02). There were no significant differences in the serum IL-12 levels according to classification by histopathological findings. Analysis with the linear correlation coefficient showed no significant correlation between serum IL-12 and serum carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9, CA 72-4, α-fetoprotein, or immunosuppressive acidic protein. However, there was a significant relationship between serum IL-12 levels and soluble IL-2 receptor levels (r = 0.53, P < 0.01).
Conclusion
Serum IL-12 levels in patients with far-advanced gastric cancer were significantly lower than those in patients with less-advanced gastric cancer. This is because macrophages in patients with far-advanced cancer would be hectic and unable to produce sufficient IL-12.
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Murakami, S., Okubo, K., Tsuji, Y. et al. Serum Interleukin-12 Levels in Patients with Gastric Cancer. Surg Today 34, 1014–1019 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-004-2860-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-004-2860-z