title: Detection of interleukin-33 in serum and carcinoma tissue from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and its clinical implications.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the clinical significance of intercellular interleukin (IL)-33 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Using immunohistochemistry, this prospective study compared IL-33 protein levels in samples of HCC tissue and normal tissue adjacent to the tumour in 60 patients  with HCC, and in normal liver tissue from six healthy controls. Interferon (IFN)-α, IFN-γ and IL-33 serum levels were also analysed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in HCC 30 patients and 10 healthy controls. The level of IL-33 immunohistochemical staining was compared with  the rate of lymph node metastasis in HCC patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  IL-33 was strongly positive in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. The median percentage of IL-33-positive tissue was higher in HCC than in normal liver tissue samples (adjacent to the tumour or from controls). Serum IFN-α, IFN-γ  and IL-33 levels were higher in pre- and postoperative samples from HCC patients than in control samples, and in patients with metastasis compared with those without metastasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Increased IL-33 protein levels were observed in serum and liver tissue from HCC patients; IL-33 may  be a useful biological marker for monitoring HCC growth and metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratory, Norman Bethune First Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: X-K
authors.initials: XK
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: K-L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: W-L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: D-J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Y-F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000097:blood; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D000067596:Interleukin-33; D007378:Interleukins / Q000097:blood*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C506536:IL33 protein, human; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D000067596:Interleukin-33; D007378:Interleukins; D007371:Interferon-gamma