Modulation of the systemic inflammatory response by recombinant human interleukin-11: A prospective randomized placebo controlled clinical study in patients with hematological malignancy

The immunomodulatory activities of recombinant human interleukin-11 (rhIL-11) were investigated in a clinical trial among patients with hematological malignancy, randomized to either rhIL-11 or placebo throughout chemotherapy. Daily serum concentrations of sTNFRI, IL-6, IL-8, TNFα, and CRP were measured. Higher sTNFRI levels [mean pg/ml (95% CI)] were detected in patients receiving rhIL-11 compared to placebo [1749.7 (1626–1882.9) versus 1038.5 (953.3–1131.3)] respectively (P = 0.01) for all 898 observations and during febrile days [2327.6 (2142.6–2528.2) versus 1308.9 (1163–1473.2), P = 0.12] and during days without infection [1406.6 (1266.1–1563) versus 871.3 (774.9–979.6), P