Circulating IL-6 and survival outcomes in renal cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

IF 1.3 Q3 UROLOGY & NEPHROLOGY

Archivio Italiano di Urologia e Andrologia Pub Date : 2025-09-30 DOI:10.4081/aiua.2025.13955

Haryo Nindito Wicaksono, Taufiq Nur Budaya, Kurnia Penta Seputra, Aulia Rahman Putra

{"title":"Circulating IL-6 and survival outcomes in renal cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Haryo Nindito Wicaksono, Taufiq Nur Budaya, Kurnia Penta Seputra, Aulia Rahman Putra","doi":"10.4081/aiua.2025.13955","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Introduction & objectives: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents the majority of kidney malignancies and is characterized by variable outcomes, even with current systemic therapies. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a proinflammatory cytokine implicated in tumor progression and immune suppression, has been proposed as a prognostic biomarker in RCC. However, the evidence remains inconsistent due to methodological heterogeneity across studies. Therefore, our study aims to evaluate the prognostic significance of IL-6 in RCC by synthesizing data from published studies, specifically overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).Methods: A systematic meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the prognostic significance of IL-6 in RCC. Eligible studies were identified through PubMed, ScienceDirect, and ProQuest up to March 2025. Inclusion criteria encompassed original articles measuring pre-treatment serum IL-6 levels in RCC patients and reporting associations with overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS). Random-effects models were used to compute pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and survival differences.Results: Nine studies comprising 702 RCC patients were included. Patients with low IL-6 levels had significantly longer OS (difference: 5.36 months; 95% CI: 2.2-8.53; p<0.001; I² = 0%) and PFS (difference: 6.41 months; 95% CI: 1.3-11.53; p=0.01; I² = 48.5%) compared to those with high IL-6. The pooled HR for survival associated with elevated IL-6 was 2.06 (95% CI: -0.23-4.36), with considerable heterogeneity (I² = 89.19%) and borderline statistical significance (p=0.08). Despite variations in study design, sample size, and IL-6 detection methods, elevated IL-6 consistently predicted worse clinical outcomes.Conclusions: IL-6 is a promising prognostic biomarker in RCC, with elevated levels associated with significantly poorer OS and PFS.","PeriodicalId":46900,"journal":{"name":"Archivio Italiano di Urologia e Andrologia","volume":"97 3","pages":"13955"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archivio Italiano di Urologia e Andrologia","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4081/aiua.2025.13955","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"UROLOGY & NEPHROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction & objectives: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents the majority of kidney malignancies and is characterized by variable outcomes, even with current systemic therapies. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a proinflammatory cytokine implicated in tumor progression and immune suppression, has been proposed as a prognostic biomarker in RCC. However, the evidence remains inconsistent due to methodological heterogeneity across studies. Therefore, our study aims to evaluate the prognostic significance of IL-6 in RCC by synthesizing data from published studies, specifically overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).

Methods: A systematic meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the prognostic significance of IL-6 in RCC. Eligible studies were identified through PubMed, ScienceDirect, and ProQuest up to March 2025. Inclusion criteria encompassed original articles measuring pre-treatment serum IL-6 levels in RCC patients and reporting associations with overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS). Random-effects models were used to compute pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and survival differences.

Results: Nine studies comprising 702 RCC patients were included. Patients with low IL-6 levels had significantly longer OS (difference: 5.36 months; 95% CI: 2.2-8.53; p<0.001; I² = 0%) and PFS (difference: 6.41 months; 95% CI: 1.3-11.53; p=0.01; I² = 48.5%) compared to those with high IL-6. The pooled HR for survival associated with elevated IL-6 was 2.06 (95% CI: -0.23-4.36), with considerable heterogeneity (I² = 89.19%) and borderline statistical significance (p=0.08). Despite variations in study design, sample size, and IL-6 detection methods, elevated IL-6 consistently predicted worse clinical outcomes.

Conclusions: IL-6 is a promising prognostic biomarker in RCC, with elevated levels associated with significantly poorer OS and PFS.

查看原文本刊更多论文

循环IL-6和肾细胞癌的生存结局：一项系统回顾和荟萃分析。

介绍和目的：肾细胞癌（RCC）代表了大多数肾脏恶性肿瘤，即使采用目前的全身治疗，其结果也不尽相同。白细胞介素-6 （IL-6）是一种与肿瘤进展和免疫抑制有关的促炎细胞因子，已被认为是RCC的预后生物标志物。然而，由于研究方法的异质性，证据仍然不一致。因此，我们的研究旨在通过综合已发表的研究数据，特别是总生存期（OS）和无进展生存期（PFS），来评估IL-6在RCC中的预后意义。方法：采用系统荟萃分析评价IL-6在RCC中的预后意义。截至2025年3月，通过PubMed、ScienceDirect和ProQuest确定了符合条件的研究。纳入标准包括测量RCC患者治疗前血清IL-6水平的原始文章，并报告与总生存期（OS）或无进展生存期（PFS）的关联。随机效应模型用于计算合并风险比（hr）和生存差异。结果：9项研究纳入702例RCC患者。结论：IL-6水平较低的患者的生存期明显较长（差异：5.36个月；95% CI: 2.2-8.53）。结论：IL-6是一种有希望的RCC预后生物标志物，IL-6水平升高与较差的生存期和生存期相关。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊