Increased serum concentrations of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I in noncachectic and cachectic patients with advanced gastric and colorectal cancer.

The serum levels of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I (sTNF-RI) were measured in 74 noncachectic patients including 42 with gastric cancer and 32 with colorectal cancer, as well as in 39 patients with severe cachexia and 15 healthy volunteers. The sTNF-RI levels increased with the advance of disease, being highest in the cachectic patients. The levels were inversely correlated with the serum concentrations of nutritional parameters such as prealbumin, transferrin, retinol binding protein, and the percentages of CD3(+) cells in the peripheral blood lymphocytes, and positively correlated with the serum concentration of immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) and soluble interleukin-2 receptors. These findings suggest that sTNF-RI could be an important prognostic factor to predict the advance of gastric and colorectal cancers and deterioration of the patient's nutritional and immune activity.