There are currently no prognostic
biomarkers for extranodal natural killer/T-cell
lymphoma (ENKTL) patients receiving
asparaginase-based
chemotherapy.
Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a pleiotropic
cytokine that is involved in the stimulation and suppression of immune responses and influences the prognosis of different subtypes of
lymphoma. We retrospectively analyzed 98 newly diagnosed patients with ENKTL receiving
asparaginase-based
chemotherapy. Baseline serum
IL-10 levels were tested with sandwich
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assays. Patients with high
IL-10 (≥12.28 pg/mL) at diagnosis tended to have more adverse clinical features. Patients with low
IL-10 (<12.28 pg/mL) at diagnosis had better progression-free survival (PFS) (P>0.001) and overall survival (OS) (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that baseline serum
IL-10 level ≥12.28 pg/mL, stage III/IV,
elevated serum ferritin, and elevated serum Epstein-Barr virus
DNA level at diagnosis were four adverse factors for PFS and OS. Based on these four independent prediction factors, we divided the patients into different subgroups as follows: group 1, no adverse factors; group 2, one factor; group 3, two factors; and group 4, three or four factors. Furthermore, significant differences in PFS and OS were found between the groups. Our results suggest that pretreatment serum
IL-10 is a novel, powerful predictor of prognosis for ENKTL patients receiving
asparaginase-based
chemotherapy, which suggests a role for
IL-10 in the pathogenesis of this disease and offers new insight into potential therapeutic strategies.