title: Expression of Th17 cell population regulatory cytokines in laryngeal carcinoma - Preliminary study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aim of the study was to evaluate the potential role of regulatory and proinflammatory cytokines IL-23 and IL-17 as Th17 lymphocyte activity markers in relation to invasiveness in laryngeal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  The immunological analysis was conducted in 50 patients treated for squamous cell laryngeal carcinoma and 30 healthy volunteers as controls. The levels of IL-23 and IL-17 in supernatants of purified peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures were determined by using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The clinicomorphological criteria included pTNM, stage, G, and the total tumour front grading (TFG) score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our data demonstrated higher concentrations of IL-23 in patients as compared to controls (p = 0.0001). No statistical difference for IL-17 in these groups was observed. Our study revealed significant dependences in IL-23 expression on pT (p = 0.04), histological differentiation (p = 0.04), and TFG total score (p = 0.02). Advanced tumours (pT3-pT4) with higher grade (G2-G3) and higher invasiveness (> 14 TFG points) were characterised by elevated IL-23 levels in PBMC supernatants. Our data did not indicate a relationship between cytokine levels and three- and five-year survival. However, a tendency towards lower content of IL-23 in PBMC cultures in patients who lived longer than five years after treatment was noted. The relationships between IL-17 level in PBMC cultures and clinicomorphological and prognostic parameters have not been disclosed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study suggest the importance of regulatory cytokine IL-23 in determining the aggressive potential of laryngeal carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Żeromski Specialist Hospital, Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kopta
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Żeromski Specialist Hospital, Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mochocki
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Żeromski Specialist Hospital, Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morawski
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Immunology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brzezińska-Błaszczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lewy-Trenda
authors.affiliation: I Department of Otolaryngology and Laryngological Oncology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Starska
keywords: IL-17; IL-23; laryngeal carcinoma; tumour front grading