Correlations between functional Interleukin-1 and changes in fatigue and quality of life in children and adolescents with cancer.

Abstract

95 Background: Several studies have explored the hypothesis of involvement of the immune system in the cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and quality of life in adults with cancer via release of cytokines. However, how the immune system may produce these outcomes remains a largely unanswered question. Furthermore, research on fatigue in children and adolescents with cancer has included primarily self-reports of this symptom, with scarce although increasing data exploring biologic variables related to this symptom. Methods: To comprehensively examine the influence of cytokines in the fatigue and health related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents with cancer, we investigated the plasma levels of pro and anti-inflamatory cytokines and its correlation with fatigue and HRQOL in children and adolescents with cancer. Plasma levels of 6 cytokines were measured via flow cytometry. Results: The final sample consisted of 33 hospitalized children and adolescents aged between 8 and 18 years. We found a correlation between general fatigue and IL-1β (r = –0.361, p = 0.039) and correlation with quality of life was noted with IL-1β (r = –0.382, p = 0.028). The results of this research indicate that there may be a relationship between cytokines and fatigue, and HRQOL in children and adolescents with cancer. When analyzed the correlation between fatigue and some confounding variables found the link between general fatigue and neutrophils (r = –0.360, p = 0.040). This correlation is a novel found in this population under cancer condition, implicating a possible interleukin-hematological pathway for CRF in oncology. Conclusions: Our study confirms the potential role of cytokines in developing cancer-related symptoms, thus supporting the utility of the neuroimmunological approach to the discovery of biomarkers linked to the clusters of cancer-related symptoms.

Effectiveness of hospital clowns for symptom management in paediatrics: systematic review of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials

“…However, treatment related symptoms and negative feelings in paediatric patients remain important in clinical practice, leading to difficulties in adjusting to cancer diagnosis and treatment, which might cause a reduction on patients’ therapeutic adherence and recovery process. 12 66 68 69 96 97 98 Because mainstream practices do not seem to holistically tackle these problems, complementary non-pharmacological practices have been suggested. 4 99 100 101 …”

Biomarkers Predictive of Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Disease in Childhood Cancer Survivors

“…In adults, IL-1 was shown to be highly expressed in several types of tumors, including breast, colon, head and neck, lung, and pancreas tumors, and melanomas [ 116 ]. In children with leukemia and a solid tumor, high concentrations of IL-1 were identified [ 117 , 118 ]. However, there is little evidence of the role of IL-1 in the pathogenesis of MetS in CCS [ 19 ].…”