School and Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Human Pathology, University Policlinic G. Martino, Messina, Italy.
J Cell Biochem. 2012 Jun;113(6):2122-5. doi: 10.1002/jcb.24083.
Little is known about specific IL-23 alterations associated with breast cancer and the data available are still controversial. Therefore, the evaluation of changes in serum IL-23 levels may add further information on the role of this cytokine in breast cancer patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate prospectively the prognostic importance of circulating IL-23 in patients with untreated breast cancer, respect to healthy controls, and the association with clinico-pathological variables. The study involved 50 women diagnosed with stages I-IV breast cancer and 38 healthy controls. Of the 50 breast cancer patients, 37 women were recruited prior to their initial adjuvant chemotherapy and 13 prior to receive first line chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Adjuvant chemotherapy patients were at least in their 4th week post-surgery. IL-23 serum concentrations were measured by a quantitative enzyme immunoassay technique. We found a statistically significant higher systemic cytokine value in women with cancer in comparison with the control group (14.52±11.39 pg/ml vs. 6.35±4.63 pg/ml, P<0.0001). Patients with shorter overall survival presented higher IL-23 values, suggesting a negative prognostic correlation. There was no significant differences in IL-23 levels among patients according to the biomolecular characteristics, the different subtypes and the presence of metastatic disease. This work investigated, for the first time, the role of IL-23 in breast cancer patients showing a significant increase respect the control group. However, further validations are needed in larger studies to better investigate the implications of IL-23 increase in these patients.
关于与乳腺癌相关的特定 IL-23 改变，人们知之甚少，并且现有数据仍然存在争议。因此，评估血清 IL-23 水平的变化可能会为该细胞因子在乳腺癌患者中的作用提供更多信息。本研究旨在前瞻性评估未经治疗的乳腺癌患者循环 IL-23 的预后重要性，与健康对照组相比，并与临床病理变量相关联。该研究涉及 50 名被诊断为 I-IV 期乳腺癌的女性和 38 名健康对照者。在 50 名乳腺癌患者中，有 37 名女性在接受初始辅助化疗之前和 13 名女性在接受转移性疾病一线化疗之前被招募。辅助化疗患者至少在手术后第 4 周。通过定量酶免疫测定技术测量 IL-23 血清浓度。我们发现，与对照组相比，癌症女性的全身细胞因子值明显更高（14.52±11.39 pg/ml 与 6.35±4.63 pg/ml，P<0.0001）。总生存期较短的患者具有更高的 IL-23 值，提示存在负预后相关性。根据生物分子特征、不同亚型和转移性疾病的存在，患者之间的 IL-23 水平没有显著差异。这项工作首次调查了 IL-23 在乳腺癌患者中的作用，显示与对照组相比明显增加。然而，需要在更大的研究中进行进一步的验证，以更好地研究这些患者中 IL-23 增加的意义。
