Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jun:107:108347.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijscr.2023.108347. Epub 2023 May 25.

IL-6 as a predictor of survival rate in liver metastatic breast cancer patients with Covid-19 infection: A case series

Dea Alberta Setiawati  1 , Widyanti Soewoto  2 , Ikhdin Radiamin Saadhi  3
Affiliations
Review

IL-6 as a predictor of survival rate in liver metastatic breast cancer patients with Covid-19 infection: A case series

Dea Alberta Setiawati et al. Int J Surg Case Rep. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Introduction and importance: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women, with 30 % being metastatic breast cancer. Cancer is known to be a comorbid Covid-19 infection. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is one of the findings of inflammatory activity due to Covid-19 infection. We report IL-6 levels as a prognostic factor for survival rate in patients with liver metastatic breast cancer.

Case presentation: We report five cases of liver metastatic breast cancer with various types of primary breast cancer. All patients are infected with Covid-19. IL-6 levels were reported to be elevated in all five patients. All patients were treated according to the national guidelines for the care of Covid-19 patients. All patients are reported to have deceased after being treated for Covid-19 infection.

Clinical discussion: Metastatic breast cancer has a low prognostic rate. Cancer has been recognized as one of the comorbidities and increases the severity and mortality of Covid-19 infection. Elevated levels of IL-6 are caused by an immune response to infection, and can worsen the outcome of breast cancer patients. Changes in IL-6 levels implicate the survival rate of metastatic breast cancer patients and outcomes during the treatment of Covid-19 infection.

Conclusion: Elevated levels of IL-6 can be a prognostic factor of the survival rate of metastatic breast cancer patients during the treatment of Covid-19 infection.

Keywords: Breast Cancer; Covid-19; Liver metastatic breast Cancer; Prognosis; Survival rate.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No conflict of interest.

References

    1. Momenimovahed Z., Salehiniya H. Epidemiological characteristics of and risk factors for breast cancer in the world. Breast Cancer: Targets Ther. 2019;11:151–164. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lin Z., Yan S., Zhang J., et al. A nomogram for distinction and potential prediction of liver metastasis in breast cancer patients. J. Cancer. 2018;9:2098–2106. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wu D., Wu T., Liu Q., et al. The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak: what we know. Int. J. Infect. Dis. 2020;94:44–48. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saghazadeh A., Rezaei N. Immune-epidemiological parameters of the novel coronavirus–a perspective. Expert. Rev. Clin. Immunol. 2020;16:465–470. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Giasuddin A.S.M., Jhuma K.A., Giasuddin R.S., et al. Cytokine varieties and cytokine storms in COVID-19: a review. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Med. Res. 2021;6:16–23.