INCREASED SERUM CONCENTRATIONS OF SOLUBLE TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR RECEPTOR-I IN NONCACHECTIC AND CACHECTIC PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED GASTRIC ANDCOLORECTAL-CANCER

The serum levels of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I (sTNF-RI) were measured in 74 noncachectic patients including 42 with gastric c ancer and 32 with colorectal cancer, as well as in 39 patients with se vere cachexia and 15 healthy volunteers. The sTNF-RI levels increased with the advance of disease, being highest in the cachectic patients. The levels were inversely correlated with the serum concentrations of nutritional parameters such as prealbumin, transferrin, retinol bindin g protein, and the percentages of CD3(+) cells in the peripheral blood lymphocytes, and positively correlated with the serum concentration o f immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) and soluble interleukin-2 rec eptors. These findings suggest that sTNF-RI could be an important prog nostic factor to predict the advance of gastric and colorectal cancers and deterioration of the patient's nutritional and immune activity.