title: Evaluation of Pre-Treatment Serum Levels of IL-7 and GM-CSF in Colorectal Cancer Patients.
abstract: Survival of Colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is considerably stage-dependent; therefore, early diagnosis is a pivotal factor in decreasing mortality and morbidity associated with this cancer. GM-CSF and IL-7 are reported to increase in different cancers and we aimed to investigate the pre-treatment serum levels of GM-CSF and IL-7 in Iranian patients with colorectal cancer. 127 patients (68 males and 59 females) entered this study before receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy. A control group of 50 healthy age/sex matched individuals (27 males and 23 females) were included in the study. The serum levels of GM-CSF and IL-7 were measured using commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assays. A significantly higher level of GM-CSF was found in the sera of patients with colorectal cancer compared to healthy age/sex matched controls (P=0.013). However, there was no significant difference between the levels of IL-7 in sera of patients and controls. We observed a significant elevation in the level of GM-CSF in poorly differentiated tumors (P=0.024). Also a significant correlation between lymphatic invasion and the level of GM-CSF in sera of CRC patients was detected (P=0.01). We found an increase of the level of IL-7 in four patients presenting moderate stages of tumor concomitant with a decrease of the level of GM-CSF. It can be concluded that the increase of the level of GM-CSF is accompanied by CRC progression in Iranian patients. Potential therapeutic effect of IL-7 in this disease, however, needs further investigations.
authors.affiliation: Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taghipour Fard Ardekani
authors.affiliation: Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahyar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malekzadeh
authors.affiliation: Colorectal Research Center, Faghihi Hospital, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Vahid
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Elahe
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bordbar
authors.affiliation: Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. ; Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehrnoosh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doroudchi
authors.affiliation: Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. ; Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghaderi
keywords: Colorectal cancer; GM-CSF; IL-7; serum