Günel Nazan, Coskun Ugur, Sancak Banu, Hasdemir Oguz, Sare Mustafa, Bayram Orhan, Celenkoglu Gokhan, Ozkan Secil
Department of Medical Oncology, Gazi University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey.
Am J Clin Oncol. 2003 Aug;26(4):416-21. doi: 10.1097/01.COC.0000027416.15170.53.
Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a multifunctional cytokine that was previously termed interferon-gamma-inducing factor. It has been suggested that serum IL-18 level may be used as a prognostic factor in some cancer types. Nitric oxide is a potent biologic molecule involved in the pathogenesis of cancer. In this study, we measured serum IL-18 and nitrate + nitrite levels in 56 patients with nonmetastatic breast cancer and 14 control subjects. Serum IL-18* and nitrate + nitrite** levels were significantly higher in patients with breast cancer when compared to the control subjects (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.001). Serum IL-18 levels were significantly higher in patients whose tumor size was greater than or equal to 5 cm when compared to patients whose tumor size was less than or equal to 2 cm (p < 0.05). Patients who were axillary lymph node negative (ALN) had lower serum IL-18 levels when compared to patients with positive ALN (p < 0.001). Serum IL-18 levels were significantly higher in patients with stage IIB or IIIA when compared to patients with stage I or IIA (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in serum nitrate + nitrite levels in terms of age, tumor stage, estrogen receptor, and menopausal and ALN status (p > 0.05). In conclusion, serum IL-18 level may be a useful marker to predict prognosis of patients with breast cancer in complete remission after surgery. Long-term follow-up is required to clarify this hypothesis.
白细胞介素-18（IL-18）是一种多功能细胞因子，以前被称为γ-干扰素诱导因子。有人提出血清IL-18水平可作为某些癌症类型的预后因素。一氧化氮是一种参与癌症发病机制的强效生物分子。在本研究中，我们测量了56例非转移性乳腺癌患者和14名对照者的血清IL-18以及硝酸盐+亚硝酸盐水平。与对照者相比，乳腺癌患者的血清IL-18*和硝酸盐+亚硝酸盐**水平显著更高（*p<0.05，**p<0.001）。与肿瘤大小小于或等于2 cm的患者相比，肿瘤大小大于或等于5 cm的患者血清IL-18水平显著更高（p<0.05）。腋窝淋巴结阴性（ALN）的患者与ALN阳性的患者相比，血清IL-18水平更低（p<0.001）。与I期或IIA期患者相比，IIB期或IIIA期患者的血清IL-18水平显著更高（p<0.05）。血清硝酸盐+亚硝酸盐水平在年龄、肿瘤分期、雌激素受体、绝经状态和ALN状态方面无显著差异（p>0.05）。总之，血清IL-18水平可能是预测乳腺癌患者术后完全缓解预后的有用标志物。需要长期随访以阐明这一假设。
