High level of interleukin-10 in serum predicts poor prognosis in multiple myeloma

Background: Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a inhibiting inflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in immune suppressive microenvironment in multiple myeloma (MM). Whether the level of serum IL-10 could predict treatment response and survival outcomes or not needs to be investigated in MM patients. Methods: The level of IL-10 in serum was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 188 patients with newly diagnosed MM. Results: The best cutoff value for IL-10 in predicting survival is 169.69 pg ml −1 with an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.747 ( P 169.96 pg ml −1 ) and 96 patients (51.1%) as low-IL-10 group (⩽169.96 pg ml −1 ). The overall response rate (ORR) was 79.2% in low-IL-10 group, significantly higher than that in high-IL-10 group (53.3%, P