Comparison of serum interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels between normal volunteers and patients with advanced melanoma

Melanoma is an immunoresponsive mnlignancy. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a pot ent regulator of immunosuppression. The purpose of this research was to def ine the relationship of serum IL-10 to survival in patients with metastatic melanoma. Forty-one melanoma patients and 50 normal volunteers were analyz ed. The median IL-10 level as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent ass ay (ELISA) in melanoma patients was 8.75 pg/ml compared to <3.0 pg/ml in no rmal volunteers (p = 0.0001). Survival of melanoma patients with an IL-10 l evel above 10.0 pg/ml was 365 days compared to 557 days in patients with IL -10 levels less than 10.0 pg/ml (p = 0.0259, Wilcoxon). Elevated IL-10 leve ls were correlated with poor survival.