RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Prognostic Impact of Tumor IL-6 Expression after Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy in Patients with Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma JF Anticancer Research JO Anticancer Res FD International Institute of Anticancer Research SP 2699 OP 2705 VO 33 IS 6 A1 MASAYUKI YONEDA A1 HITOSHI FUJIWARA A1 AKINOBU FURUTANI A1 ATSUSHI IKAI A1 HIROYUKI TADA A1 ATSUSHI SHIOZAKI A1 SHUHEI KOMATSU A1 TAKESHI KUBOTA A1 DAISUKE ICHIKAWA A1 KAZUMA OKAMOTO A1 HIROTAKA KONISHI A1 YASUTOSHI MURAYAMA A1 YOSHIAKI KURIU A1 HISASHI IKOMA A1 MASAYOSHI NAKANISHI A1 TOSHIYA OCHIAI A1 EIGO OTSUJI YR 2013 UL http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/33/6/2699.abstract AB Elevated serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels have been associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in patients with esophageal carcinoma. The purpose of the present study was to clarify such a relationship in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with a focus on the possible influence of chemoradiotherapy (CRT) on tumor IL-6 expression. Data regarding 41 patients with clinical T3-T4 tumors who underwent induction chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery (CRT group) and 60 patients with clinical T1-T4 tumors who underwent surgery alone (Surgery group) between 2001 and 2010, were retrospectively analyzed. Tumor IL-6 expression in resected specimens was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Tumor IL-6 expression was detected in patients with advanced tumors in the Surgery group (21.1% in pstage III-IV vs. 0.2% in pstage I-II; 27.8% in pT3-4 vs. 0% in pT1-2), and also correlated with primary tumor progression and surgical curability in the Surgery group. In addition, patients with IL-6-positive tumors had significantly shorter overall survival than those with IL-6-negative tumors in the CRT group, and tumor IL-6 expression had an independent prognostic value in multivariate analysis, whereas no significant difference in overall survival was observed between patients with IL-6-positive and those with IL-6-negative tumors in the Surgery group. These results indicate that pre-treatment tumor IL-6 expression correlates with primary tumor progression, and CRT-induced tumor IL-6 expression predicts poor prognosis.