Interleukin-6 and its soluble receptor in patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM： To evaluate the immunohistochemical localization of interleukin-6 （IL-6） and IL-6 receptor （IL-6R） on tumor tissue specimens from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） and the serum levels of IL-6 and sIL-6R in a group of patients with HCC as well as liver cirrhosis （LC） in a group of patients with LC alone and in a control group. METHODS： Three groups of subjects were studied： group Ⅰ （n =83） suffering from HCC and LC, group Ⅱ （n = 72） suffering from LC alone and group Ⅲ （n =42） as healthy controls. All patients had hepatitis C virus infection. Serum IL-6 and IL-6R levels were determined using a commercially available ELISA kit. Immunohistochemistry was performed using the streptavidin-biotin complex and rabbit polyclonal antibodies against IL-6 and IL-6R. RESULTS： Immunohistochemistry analysis showed a medium to strong cytoplasmic and membrane reactivity for IL-6 and IL-6R respectively, in at least 40% of cases of HCC, whereas liver cirrhosis patients and controls were negative for IL-6 or showed a very mild and focal dot-like cytoplasmic reaction for IL-6R. Serum IL-6 levels in HCC group were significantly higher than those in LC and control groups （P〈 0.0001）. There was no significant difference in sIL-6R concentrations among 3 groups. When the patients with HCC were divided into groups according to Okuda＇s classification, a significant serum increase of IL-6 and slL-6R level was observed from stage Ⅰ to stage Ⅲ （P〈0.02, P〈0.0005）. When HCC and LC patients were divided into 3 classes of cirrhosis severity according to Child-Pugh, values in HCC patients were significantly higher than those in LC patients for each corresponding class （P〈 0.01）. CONCLUSION： IL-6 serum levels in HCC patients are higher than those in LC patients and controls, suggesting an increased production of this cytokine by neoplastic cells, sIL-6R values are similar in all groups, increasing only in stage III HCC patients. These data suggest that they have a closer relationship with the neoplastic mass rather than with the residual functioning hepatic mass.

瞄准：为了评估免疫， interleukin-6 ( IL-6 )和从有肝细胞癌( HCC )和浆液的病人的肿瘤组织标本上的 IL-6 受体( IL-6R )的组织化学的本地化与 HCC 以及肝肝硬化( LC )在一组病人 IL-6 和 sIL-6R 铺平在一组有独自一个的 LC 并且在一个控制组的病人。方法：三组题目被学习：组我(n = 83 ) 受不了 HCC 和 LC，组 II (n = 72 ) 受不了独自一个的 LC 和组 III (n = 42 ) 同样健康的控制。所有病人有丙肝病毒感染。浆液 IL-6 和 IL-6R 层次用一个商业地可得到的 ELISA 工具包被决定。Immunohistochemistry 对 IL-6 和 IL-6R 用 streptavidin-biotin 建筑群和兔子 polyclonal 抗体被执行。结果：Immunohistochemistry 分析显示出媒介到强壮细胞质并且为 IL-6 和 IL-6R 的膜反应分别地在 HCC 的至少 40% 盒子，而肝肝硬化病人和控制为 IL-6 是否定的或为 IL-6R 显示出很温和、焦点的像点的细胞质的反应。在 HCC 组的浆液 IL-6 层次比在 LC 和控制组的那些显著地高(P < 0.0001 ) 。在在 3 个组之中的 sIL-6R 集中没有有效差量。当有 HCC 的病人根据 Okuda 的分类被划分成组时， IL-6 和 sIL-6R 水平的重要浆液增加从舞台被观察我上演 III (P < 0.02， P < 0.0005 ) 。当 HCC 和 LC 病人根据孩子呸被划分成肝硬化严厉的 3 个班时，在 HCC 病人的价值比在为各相应的班的 LC 病人的那些显著地高(P < 0.01 ).CONCLUSION：在 HCC 病人的 IL-6 浆液层次比在 LC 病人和控制的那些高，建议由肿瘤的房间的这 cytokine 的增加的生产。sIL-6R 价值在所有组是类似的，仅仅在阶段 III HCC 病人增加。这些数据建议他们与肿瘤的团而非与剩余的工作有一种更靠近的关系肝的质量。