IL-6 IS A SURVIVAL PROGNOSTIC FACTOR IN RENAL-CELL CARCINOMA

It has been reported that a high plasmatic concentration of interleuki n-6 (IL-6) is correlated to a lack of response to immunotherapy in sev eral malignancies, suggesting that IL-6 was either a marker of tumour aggressiveness or had only a predictive value of response to immunothe rapy. To discriminate between these two possibilities, a retrospective study was performed in a series of 19 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who did not respond to IL-2/IFN alpha/5-FU treatment. S erum levels of IL-6, C-reactive Protein (CRP), soluble IL-2-receptor ( sIL-2R), M-CSF and neopterin were assayed before treatment. IL-6 showe d a significant correlation with patients median survival time (P < 0. 016), suggesting that serum concentration of IL-6 before treatment is a marker of tumour aggressiveness rather than a predictive parameter f or an immunological response. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.