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Elevated plasma interleukin-35 levels predict poor prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Interleukin-35 (IL-35) has recently been implicated in tumor immunity. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical role of plasma IL-35 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Plasma collected from 106 patients with NSCLC cases and 78 healthy controls (HC) were subjected to IL-35 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and relationships between plasma IL-35 levels and clinical characteristics were evaluated. The correlation of IL-35 and overall survival was analyzed using Kaplan–Meier method. The prognostic value of IL-35 was tested using univariate and multivariate analysis. Circulating IL-35 levels were significantly higher in the NSCLC group in comparison with the HC group (21.37 ± 11.55 pg/ml vs. 10.09 ± 5.32 pg/ml, p < 0.001). Correlation analysis by subgroup indicated that plasma IL-35 correlated positively with tumor TNM stage (p < 0.001) and lymph node metastases (p < 0.0001). Using a cutoff level of 20.26 pg/ml (median value), IL-35 showed an inverse correlation with overall survival. Univariate and multivariate analysis indicated that plasma IL-35 was an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC patients. Circulating IL-35 in NSCLC patients significantly increased. IL-35 is a promising potential biomarker in prognostication of clinical outcome of NSCLC patients and the regulation of IL-35 expression may provide a new target for the treatment of NSCLC patients.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (973 projects) (No. 2012CB917104) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81172853 and 81201605), Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning (No. XYQ2011040).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital and Chinese PLA Medical School, Beijing, 100853, China

    Xiaobin Gu, Tian Tian, Yang Liu, Chao Yuan, Yajun Guo & Kexing Fan

  2. School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Lijuan Shao

  3. International Joint Cancer Institute, The Second Military Medical University, 800 Xiang Yin Road, New Building West 10-11th Floor, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Bo Zhang, Yajun Guo & Kexing Fan

Authors
  1. Xiaobin Gu
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  2. Tian Tian
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  3. Bo Zhang
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  4. Yang Liu
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  5. Chao Yuan
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  6. Lijuan Shao
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  7. Yajun Guo
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  8. Kexing Fan
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yajun Guo or Kexing Fan.

Additional information

Xiaobin Gu and Tian Tian contributed equally to this work as first authors.

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Gu, X., Tian, T., Zhang, B. et al. Elevated plasma interleukin-35 levels predict poor prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Tumor Biol. 36, 2651–2656 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2887-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2887-8

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