Prognostic value of serum IL‐10 and soluble IL‐2 receptor levels in aggressive non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma

Abstract

Summary We investigated the prognostic significance of interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) and soluble interleuckin‐2 receptor (sIl‐2r) levles in the pretreatment serum of 105 individuals with newly‐diagnosed aggressive non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Commercially available enzyem‐linked immunoassay kits were used for cytokine and receptor measurements. Detectable levels of IL‐10 were found in 42 (40%) patients at diagnosis, with no correlation with clinico‐haematological parameters, but in no control samples (P < 0.001). Pretreatment concentrations of sIL‐2r were markedly increased in individuals with NHL when compared to controls (2614 ± 893 U/ml v 219 ± 65U/ml, P < 0.001), patients with stage III/IV presenting higher values than those with stage II disase (3885 ± 1196U/ml v 1732 ± 646U/ml, P < 0.001). No single parameter was associated with the achiveement of complete remission, but the combination of elevated IL‐10 and of sIL‐2r greater than 3000U/ml selected a subset of patients with a high probability of failing induction therapy (P < 0.001). Lifetable analysis also indicated thatj patients with these characteristics have a significantly shorter event‐free survival. In a multivariate analysis the combination of IL‐10 with sIL‐2r was found to have greater predictive strength than the combination of IL‐10 with β₂‐micro‐globulin. We conclude that IL‐10 and sIL‐2r measurements can be expected to improve existing methods of risk assignment in aggressive NHL.