CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CIRCULATING PROINFLAMMATORY CYTOKINE LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH PANCREATIC ADENOCARCINOMA

Objective: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha) and interleukin 1 beta(IL-1 beta) play key roles in pathogenesis of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA). The objective of this study was to determine the clinical significance of serum levels of these molecules in PA patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 33 patients with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of PA and age-and sexmatched 30 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Serum proinflammatory cytokine concentrations were determined by the ELISA method. Results: The median age at diagnosis was 59 years, range 32 to 84 years. Of the patients who had undergone surgical intervention (27%), 15% had had pancreaticoduodenectomy and palliative surgery was performed in the remaining 12%. The baseline serum proinflammatory cytokine levels were significantly higher in patients with PA than in the healthy control group (both for TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta; p<0.001). Additionally, serum IL-1 beta levels of the patients with jaundice, large tumor size, metastasis or liver metastasis were detected to be significantly higher compared with others (p=0.008, p=0.002, p=0.008, and p=0.03, respectively). However, serum proinflammatory cytokine levels had no prognostic role for outcome in PA patients. Conclusions: Serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines were diagnostic markers in PA patients but not prognostic.