Elevated Serum Levels of Interleukin-8 in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients: Relationship with Prognosis

Abstract

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a pleiotropic cytokine that has also been shown to exert effects relevant to cancer growth and progression. Cancer progression is believed to be contributed to by the ability of this cytokine to promote angiogenesis and mitogenic effects. As IL-8 production at the tumor site may determine elevated serum levels of this cytokine because of hematogenous leakage, it is conceivable that patients with high IL-8 serum levels may have tumors actively producing this cytokine. The aim of this study was, therefore, to assess IL-8 serum levels in 60 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing chemotherapy and to correlate them with prognosis. IL-8 serum levels were found to be significantly elevated in cancer patients with respect to controls. Moreover, IL-8 serum levels were shown to be significantly increased in stage IV patients compared with stage III patients. When basal IL-8 serum levels in cancer patients were analyzed according to response to chemotherapy, responders were shown to have significantly lower IL-8 serum levels than nonresponders. On univariate analysis, the IL-8 serum level was included among the variables capable of affecting both overall survival (OS) and time to treatment failure (TTF). However, multivariate analysis failed to demonstrate an independent prognostic significance for IL-8 serum levels. In conclusion, this study showed that IL-8 serum levels were elevated in advanced NSCLC patients and correlated with both OS and TTF, but they were shown not to be an independent prognostic factor.

Cyclooxygenase-2-Dependent Expression of Angiogenic CXC Chemokines ENA-78/CXC Ligand (CXCL) 5 and Interleukin-8/CXCL8 in Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

“…Our data suggesting that COX-2 drives the level of NF-Bdependent CXCL8 and CXCL5 expression are in agreement with earlier studies showing that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs inhibit the activity of NF-B (53). Also, our results for NSCLC tumor growth and angiogenesis are compatible with the recent clinical studies demonstrating that high levels of COX-2 mRNA and protein expression (8,9) as well as angiogenic chemokines including CXCL8, CXCL5, and CXCL1 (27)(28)(29)(30)(31) in NSCLC tumor samples are associated with a poor prognosis.…”

Serum Interleukin-8 Reflects Tumor Burden and Treatment Response across Malignancies of Multiple Tissue Origins

“…Reports in melanoma (13)(14)(15), non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC; refs. 16,17), prostate cancer (18), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (19), soft sarcoma (20) and bone sarcoma (21), renal cell carcinoma (RCC; ref. 22), urothelial tumors (23,24), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; refs.…”

Interleukin levels and their potential association with venous thromboembolism and survival in cancer patients

“…IL-8 is involved in stimulating neutrophils and angiogenesis [22]. IL-10, which acts as an immunoinhibitory cytokine, is often elevated in patients with lung cancer, whereas in patients with colorectal cancer bs_bs_banner Clinical and Experimental Immunology ORIGINAL ARTICLE doi:10.1111/cei.12308 the levels of IL-6 are increased [19,21,[23][24][25]. Elevated levels of circulating IL-6 and IL-8 are often associated with poor survival rates, especially in patients suffering from lung cancer [24,[26][27][28][29][30].…”