title: Expression of interleukin-18, interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: This is the first report on the detection of IL-18, IFN-gamma and IL-10 proteins in hepatocelllular carcinoma. In the apparently normal surrounding tissue, 13 out of 17 paired specimens showed positive immunoreactivity to IL-18 (76.5%) compared with six out of 17 in the tumour portion (35.3% of specimens). Thus, a significantly higher number of IL-18 positive specimens was found in the hepatocytes of apparently normal surrounding tissue compared with the tumour (P=0.018). In contrast, the number of specimens with positive immunoreactivity to the antibody against the Th1 cytokine, IFN-gamma expression in the hepatocytes was lower. Only one specimen from the apparently normal surrounding tissue (one out of 17; 5.9%) and three other specimens from the tumour portion (three out of 17; 17.6%) had positive immunoreactivity. Similarly, the expression of the Th2 cytokine, IL-10 in normal (four out of 17; 23.5%) and tumour portions (five out of 17; 29.4%) was also low. Thus, there did not appear to be predominant Th2 immune response as denoted by IL-10 expression. Using the Spearman correlation rank test, a significant correlation between IL-18 expression in the apparently normal surrounding tissue and high alpha-foetoprotein (AFP) levels of >350 IU/l. No correlation between IL-18 expression in the tumour portion and clinicopathological factors was found. There was also no correlation found between IL-18 and the other cytokines, namely, IFN-gamma and IL-10 expression These new findings provide additional information on the type of cytokines expressed in the tumour microenvironment and give a further insight into the role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of cancer which is critical for the development of effective immunotherapeutic approaches for cancer therapy in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor 43400, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Chok Seng
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chia
authors.forename: Kechen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ban
authors.forename: Hairuszah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ithnin
authors.forename: Harjit
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krishnan
authors.forename: Suryati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mokhtar
authors.forename: Nik
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malihan
authors.forename: Heng Fong
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Seow
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D020382:Interleukin-18; D016753:Interleukin-10