Serum Soluble Interleukin-2 Receptor as a Predictor of Lymph Node Metastasis in Early Gastric Cancer

Abstract

Background: In the present study, we investigated the clinical significance of serum soluble IL-2R as a predictor of lymph node metastasis in patients with early gastric cancer. Patients and Methods: Seventy-four patients with early gastric cancer were enrolled in this study. Levels of serum soluble IL-2R were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Result: Significant differences in serum soluble IL-2R between the control group and cases of T1 were not recognized. On the other hand, levels of serum soluble IL-2R in 74 patients with early gastric cancer (T1) were significantly lower than those of T2, T3, and T4 (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in serum soluble IL-2R between cases of mucosal and submucosal invasion (379 ± 42 vs. 382 ± 35 U/ml). Six of 35 patients with submucosal invasion (17.1%) had lymph node metastasis, but none of the 39 patients with mucosal invasion. In the 6 cases showing lymph node metastasis, the macroscopic types were IIc + Ul(+) in 4, and IIc + IIa and IIc + IIb in 1, respectively. Histopathologically, there were 5 poorly and 1 moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas. In 6 cases with lymph node metastasis, serum soluble IL-2R levels were significantly higher than in those without lymph node metastasis (556.8 ± 73 vs. 329 ± 22 U/ml, respectively, mean ± SEM, p < 0.05). Five of these 6 cases demonstrated statistically significantly increased levels of serum soluble IL-2R (sensitivity 83%, specificity 63%), suggesting serum soluble IL-2R as a predictor of lymph node metastasis in early gastric cancer (p < 0.05). Conclusion: According to these data, in patients of early gastric cancer with increased levels of serum soluble IL-2R, endoscopic mucosal resection or minimal invasive gastrectomy without dissection of regional lymph nodes should be avoided, since there is a high risk of lymph node metastasis.

Serum Interleukin-12 Levels in Patients with Gastric Cancer

“…Therefore, serum sIL-2R is often measured as a substitute for IL-2, since it reflects the activity of IL-2 by attaching to its receptor as an autocrine, and it is easy to detect because of its relative stability in the serum. 30 Several investigators have reported recognizing elevated levels of sIL-2R in patients with various malignant disorders, [30][31][32] and some reports describe the relationship between IL-12 and sIL-2R in other clinical conditions. In acute graft-versus-host disease after allogenetic bone marrow transplantation, the serum IL-12 and sIL-2R levels increased simultaneously 33 and patients with immune arthropathy had increased IL-12 and sIL-2R levels in the synovial fluid.…”

Effect of heavy-ion beam irradiation on the level of serum soluble interleukin-2 receptors in hamster cheek pouch carcinoma model

“…In their study, Li Ling et al (13) demonstrated that high sIL-2R serum levels were significantly decreased following removal of the tumors. Tartour et al (14), Murakami et al (15) and Grotowski and Piechota (16) reported that the sIL-2R serum levels of head and neck, gastric and colorectal cancer patients were significantly higher compared to the control groups and showed an increase with progression of clinical stage. Lai et al (17) revealed that sIL-2R serum levels in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were significantly higher compared to the normal controls and was significantly increased with progression of clinical stage, with stage III-IV>I-II sIL-2R serum levels being lower subsequent to radiotherapy.…”

Can serum interleukin-2 receptor alpha predict lymph node metastasis in early gastric cancer?

“…Murakami et al [18] study serum IL-2Rα level can predict lymph node metastasis in early gastric cancer regardless of cell differentiation. However based on the results of our study, only the serum IL-2Rα level in undifferentiated type were different according to lymph node metastasis.…”