Clinical Significance of Serum Soluble T Cell Regulatory Molecules in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Abstract EN

To clarify the role of serum soluble T cell regulatory molecules in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC), we measured the serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R), soluble B7-H3 (sB7-H3), and soluble cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen-4 (sCTLA-4) in 70 CCRCC patients and 35 healthy controls.

We investigated correlations between the serum levels of these soluble T cell regulatory molecules and the pathological grade, clinical stage, and prognosis of CCRCC.

We also assessed the relations among each of these soluble molecules.

As a result, the serum level of sIL-2R was significantly higher in CCRCC patients than in healthy controls (P<0.05).

In addition, elevation of serum sIL-2R was significantly correlated with the clinical stage (P<0.001), and the survival of patients with high sIL-2R levels was shorter than that of patients with low sIL-2R levels (P<0.05).

Furthermore, the serum level of sB7-H3 was also significantly correlated with the clinical stage (P<0.05), while the sIL-2R and sB7-H3 levels showed a positive correlation with each other (R=0.550, P<0.0001).

These results indicate that the serum level of sIL-2R reflects tumor progression in CCRCC patients.

In addition, the possibility was suggested that the IL-2/IL-2R and B7-H3 pathways may be involved in the progression of CCRCC.