Serum interleukin-10 is an independent prognostic factor in advanced solidtumors

Interleukin (IL)-10 is a Th2 type pleiotropic cytokine that has been found to be produced at the tumor site and to be increased in sera of patients su ffering from different types of cancer. IL-10 has been shown to hinder a nu mber of immune functions, i.e., T lymphocyte proliferation, Th1 type cytoki ne production, antigen presentation, and lymphokine-activated killer cell c ytotoxicity. To assess its prognostic value, we measured serum levels of IL -10 in 118 patients with advanced solid tumors before treatment, after comp letion of therapy, and during follow-up. Other prognostic variables, to whi ch IL-10 results were compared, were analyzed as well. IL-10 serum levels w ere found significantly elevated in cancer patients with respect to healthy controls. Of interest, a significant decrease in IL-10 serum levels was ob served in the responder group, whereas a significant increase was recorded in the non-responder group. Using univariate and multivariate analyses, a s ignificant relationship was shown between IL-10 serum levels and both overa ll survival (OS) and time to treatment failure (TTF). Stepwise regression a nalysis selected IL-10 serum level, performance status (PS), and stage as t he best association of variables with significant impact on OS and TTF. In conclusion, this study shows that IL-10 has an independent prognostic signi ficance in patients with advanced solid tumors and may be useful for monito ring disease progression.