The relationship between blood IL‐12p40 level and melanoma progression. Issue 8 (18th September 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fang, Shenying; Wang, Yuling; Chun, Yun Shin; Liu, Huey; Ross, Merrick I.; Gershenwald, Jeffrey E.; Cormier, Janice N.; Royal, Richard E.; Lucci, Anthony; Schacherer, Christopher W.; Reveille, John D.; Sui, Dawen; Bassett, Roland L.; Wang, Li‐E; Wei, Qingyi; Amos, Christopher I.; Lee, Jeffrey E.
• Is Part Of: International journal of cancer. Volume 136:Issue 8(2015:Apr. 15)
• Page Start: 1874
• Page End: 1880
• Publication Date: 2014-09-18
• Subjects: Cancer -- Periodicals; Cancer -- Prevention -- Periodicals; 616.994
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.29182
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7136

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Cytokines such as Interleukin (IL)−12p70 ("IL‐12") and IL‐23 can influence tumor progression. We tested the hypothesis that blood levels of IL‐12p40, the common subunit of both cytokines, are associated with melanoma progression. Blood from 2, 048 white melanoma patients were collected at a single institution between March 1998 and March 2011. Plasma levels of IL‐12p40 were determined for 573 patients (discovery), 249 patients (Validation 1) and 244 patients (Validation 2). Per 10‐unit change of IL‐12p40 level was used to investigate associations with melanoma patient outcome among all patients or among patients with early or advanced stage. Among stage I/II melanoma patients in the pooled data set, after adjustment for sex, age, stage and blood draw time from diagnosis, elevated IL‐12p40 was associated with melanoma recurrence [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.04 per 10‐unit increase in IL‐12p40, 95% CI 1.02–1.06, <italic>p</italic> = 8.48 × 10<sup>−5</sup>]; Elevated IL‐12p40 was also associated with a poorer melanoma specific survival (HR = 1.06, 95% CI 1.03–1.09, <italic>p</italic> = 3.35 × 10<sup>−5</sup>) and overall survival (HR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.03–1.08, <italic>p</italic> = 8.78×10<sup>−7</sup>) in multivariate analysis. Among stage III/IV melanoma patients in the pooled data set, no significant association was detected between elevated IL‐12p40 and overall survival, or with melanoma specific survival, with or without adjustment for the above covariates. Early stage melanoma patients with elevated IL‐12p40 levels are more likely to develop disease recurrence and have a poorer survival. Further investigation with a larger sample size will be needed to determine the role of IL‐12p40 in advanced stage melanoma patients.</p> </abstract>