Clinical significance of serum TH1/TH2 cytokines in patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma

Background. The acquisition of immune reaction in the peripheral blood is to play a critical role in the prevention of tumor progression. However, the clinical role of the circulating immune response against human cancer remains unclear. Methods. Serum samples from 68 consecutive patients who underwent resection for pulmonary adenocarcinoma were obtained before the operation. The serum levels of interferon gamma and interleukin 4 were measured and the impact on the clinical features was assessed. According to the predominance of the cytokine levels, the patients were classified into 4 groups: interferon gamma only (T(H)1), interleukin 4 only (T(H)2), both (T(H)0), and neither (THX). Results. In the T(H)1 group, 18 of 22 patients (81.8%) were free from lymph node metastasis, whereas 5 of 7 patients (71.4%) in the T(H)2 group had lymph node involvements. As a result, 62 patients underwent complete resection, with 9 of 19 patients (47.3%) in the T(H)1 group having recurrence, but no relapse of the disease appearing in the T(H)2 group during the observation period. The disease-free interval for the T(H)2 group was significantly longer than that for the T(H)1 group (44.2 mo vs 26.1 mo, P = .03). Conclusions. Assessing the serum T-H profile on the basis of the predominance of the serum interferon gamma or interleukin 4 is important to presume the ongoing responses of T cells against the tumor burden.