Circulating IL-35 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients.

Abstract IL-35 is a novel inhibitory cytokine that is mainly produced by regulatory T-cells (Tregs) and is required for Treg-mediated immunosuppression. However, the plasma levels of IL-35 in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) have never been investigated. In this study, we found that plasma IL-35 levels more significantly increased in PDAC patients than in normal controls (134.53 ± 92.45 pg/mL vs. 14.26 ± 6.56 pg/mL). IL-35 mRNA levels were positively correlated with plasma IL-35 levels (EBI3, R  = 0.925, p R  = 0.916, p p  = 0.001) and late tumor stage ( p  = 0.002). For the resected patients, high IL-35 expression levels were associated with large tumor size ( p T staging ( p p