The relationship between blood IL-12p40 level and melanoma progression.
Abstract
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, p = 8.48 × 10(-5)
]; Elevated IL-12p40 was also associated with a poorer melanoma specific survival
(HR = 1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.09, p = 3.35 × 10(-5) ) and overall survival (HR = 1.05,
95% CI 1.03-1.08, p = 8.78×10(-7) ) 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.
Type
Journal articleSubject
IL-12p40cytokines
early stage
melanoma
progression
Disease Progression
Female
Humans
Interleukin-12 Subunit p40
Male
Melanoma
Middle Aged
Multivariate Analysis
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10669Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1002/ijc.29182Publication Info
Fang, Shenying; Wang, Yuling; Chun, Yun Shin; Liu, Huey; Ross, Merrick I; Gershenwald,
Jeffrey E; ... Lee, Jeffrey E (2015). The relationship between blood IL-12p40 level and melanoma progression. Int J Cancer, 136(8). pp. 1874-1880. 10.1002/ijc.29182. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10669.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Qingyi Wei
Professor in Population Health Sciences
Qingyi Wei, MD, PhD, Professor in the Department of Medicine, is Associate Director
for Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Co-leader of CCPS and Co-leader of Epidemiology
and Population Genomics (Focus Area 1). He is a professor of Medicine and an internationally
recognized epidemiologist focused on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of head
and neck cancers, lung cancer, and melanoma. His research focuses on biomarkers and
genetic determinants for the DNA repair deficient phenotype and

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