Relationship between serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor and various disease parameters in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus

BAGKGROUND/AIMS: Soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) is a useful biomar ker for the management of hematologic malignancies, We determined the signi ficance of serum sIL-2R levels in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. METHODOLOGY: The correlation between serum sIL-2R levels and a variety of c linicopathologic factors in 51 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus was evaluated. WE! also investigated the expression of IL-BR in the resected specimen using immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: Expression of IL-2R, was detected in primary esophageal carcinoma cells as well as infiltrating mononuclear cells. Serum sIL-2R levels in the 51 patients with esophageal cancer were significantly higher than those in the 18 healthy volunteers (p<0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that pM, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis was significantly correlated with ser um sIL-2R, levels. Univariate analysis demonstrated that tumor size, pM, pT NM stage, and resectability were parameters which were significantly correl ated with serum sIL-2R levels. There was no relationship between serum sIL- 2 levels and tumor depth, lymph node metastasis, pT, histologic type, or cu rability. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the serum sIL-2R levels may be an i ndicator of the extent of disease and resectability in patients with esopha geal squamous cell carcinoma. Immunohistochemical staining suggests that;es ophageal cancer cells and infiltrating mononuclear cells may be the source of sIL-2R in the serum.