[The value of measuring the serum level of soluble interleukin-2 receptors in lung cancer patients].

This article is a review of recent reports dealing with the usefulness of measuring serum soluble interleukin-2 receptors (sIL-2R) level to assess the immunological status in lung cancer patients. The main function of sIL-2R is a regulation of the immune response by binding IL-2 what results in blocking the biological functions of this cytokine. By the competition with cell surface interleukin-2 receptors (IL-2R), sIL-2R act as immunosuppressive factor inhibiting IL-2R related lymphoblast growth. It is still not clear, why elevated levels of sIL-2R are reported both in immunodeficiency and immunostimulation state. In lung cancer patients the positive correlation between values of concentrations of sIL-2R and more progressive course of the disease is reported. The level of sIL-2R may be used as valuable prognostic marker both in patients treated with chemotherapy and in the case of operable tumors.