SERUM LEVELS OF CYTOKINES IN PATIENTS WITH COLORECTAL-CANCER - POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT OF INTERLEUKIN-6 AND INTERLEUKIN-8 IN HEMATOGENOUS METASTASIS

Serum levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interl eukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha), and granulocyte-mac rophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were measured preoperativel y in 24 patients with colorectal cancer. IL-1beta was not elevated, IL -6 and IL-8 were markedly elevated, and GM-CSF was slightly elevated. TNF-alpha was not detected in most patients. Serum IL-6 levels correla ted closely with serum IL-8 levels and with serum carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 levels. Serum IL-6 levels were significantly higher in pati ents whose tumors exceeding 5.0 cm in diameter or spreading circumfere ntially. Serum IL-8 levels showed significant differences according to histological type, being lower in well differentiated adenocarcinoma compared to other types. Serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8 were significan tly higher in patients with liver metastasis than in those without liv er metastasis and serum levels of both these cytokines were also signi ficantly higher in patients with lung metastasis than in those without lung metastasis. These results suggest that IL-6 and IL-8 may play an important role in the hematogenous metastasis of colorectal cancer.