Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Cotugno Hospital, Naples, Italy.
J Biol Regul Homeost Agents. 2009 Oct-Dec;23(4):251-8.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a frequent malignancy with a high rate of mortality, and the hepatitis B and C viruses are considered major etiological factors associated with the development of chronic inflammation. Today, there is increasing evidence that the inflammatory process, mediated by the complex cytokine network, is inherently associated with many cancer types, including HCC. In this study we have assayed Th1 cytokines, such as IL-18 and IFN gamma, in the sera of 23 HCC patients with HCV infection, analysing their possible association with HCC in respect to 20 patients: 12 carriers for HCV infection and 8 healthy controls. We have also evaluated the possible difference on IL-18 and IFN gamma in HCC patients with respect to the number of hepatic nodules and rate of tumor differentiation. The mean values of serum IL-18 levels were significantly higher in HCC patients than in HCV carriers (p < 0.001) while IFN gamma serum levels were similar in cases and controls. No significant correlation was present between IL-18 and IFN gamma. In addition, IL-18 was higher in HCC patients with two or more nodules in respect to HCC patients with one nodule (372+/-140 vs 109+/-73 pg /mL; p <0.001). There is no significant difference in HCC patients and no correlation between the cytokines and other evaluated variables such as HCV RNA, alpha-1 fetoprotein, genotype and demographics of HCC patients. Taken together, our data suggest that IL-18 may play a key role in the pathogenesis of HCC and its levels can be utilized as a possible marker in the diagnosis of HCC.
肝细胞癌（HCC）是一种常见的恶性肿瘤，死亡率很高，乙型肝炎和丙型肝炎病毒被认为是与慢性炎症发展相关的主要病因。如今，越来越多的证据表明，炎症过程，由复杂的细胞因子网络介导，与许多癌症类型固有相关，包括 HCC。在这项研究中，我们检测了 23 例丙型肝炎病毒感染的 HCC 患者血清中的 Th1 细胞因子，如 IL-18 和 IFNγ，并分析了它们与 20 例患者（12 例丙型肝炎病毒感染者和 8 例健康对照者）的 HCC 之间的可能相关性。我们还评估了 HCC 患者的 IL-18 和 IFNγ 与肝结节数量和肿瘤分化率之间的可能差异。与 HCV 携带者相比，HCC 患者血清 IL-18 水平显著升高（p<0.001），而 IFNγ 血清水平在病例和对照组之间相似。IL-18 和 IFNγ 之间没有显著相关性。此外，与 HCC 患者中存在一个结节的患者相比，存在两个或更多结节的 HCC 患者的 IL-18 水平更高（372+/-140 与 109+/-73 pg/mL；p<0.001）。在 HCC 患者中没有差异，细胞因子与其他评估变量（如 HCV RNA、α-1 胎儿蛋白、基因型和 HCC 患者的人口统计学）之间没有相关性。综上所述，我们的数据表明，IL-18 可能在 HCC 的发病机制中发挥关键作用，其水平可作为 HCC 诊断的可能标志物。
