Interleukin-1α as a Potential Prognostic Biomarker in Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose: We assessed the prognostic role of pro-inflammatory cytokines of the IL-1 superfamily in patients with pancreatic cancer. Methods: This retrospective study was performed using two independent cohorts of patients with pancreatic cancer: the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC, N = 267) cohort and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA, N = 178) cohort. Univariate Cox regressions were used to identify prognosis-related pro-inflammatory cytokines of the IL-1 superfamily. Cytokines associated with outcome were included in a multivariate Cox model with relevant clinicopathological variables to identify prognostic biomarkers. Results: IL-1α was the only pro-inflammatory cytokine of the IL-1 superfamily that was significantly associated with prognosis in both cohorts. In the training cohort (ICGC), the decile of patients with the lowest IL1A expression had better overall survival (HR = 1.99 [1.01–3.93], p = 0.05) and better relapse-free survival (HR = 1.85 [1.02–3.34], p = 0.04) than the group with the highest IL1A expression. The validation cohort (TCGA) confirmed these results: the decile with the lowest IL1A expression had better overall survival (HR = 3.00 [1.14–7.90], p = 0.03) and a lower risk of progression (HR = 3.11 [1.24–7.80], p = 0.01). Conclusions: IL1A is an independent prognostic marker and could be considered a potential therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer patients.