Department of Pathology, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, South Korea.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Smart-Aging Convergence Research Center, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu, South Korea.
Ann Surg Oncol. 2017 Nov;24(12):3780-3787. doi: 10.1245/s10434-017-5907-2. Epub 2017 Jun 20.
Interleukin (IL)-13 is an immunoregulatory, anti-inflammatory cytokine that is produced by numerous immune cells, and plasma membrane receptor for IL-13 (IL-13R) is known to be expressed in various human malignancies and in immune cells.
The authors evaluated the expression of IL-13R alpha 1 (IL-13Rα1, an IL-13R subtype) by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays of 1213 invasive breast cancer (IBC) samples to determine the prognostic value of IL-13Rα1 expression.
High IL-13Rα1 expression was observed in 619 (51%) cases and was found to be associated with an older (≥50 years) age (p = 0.022), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.015), ductal and micropapillary histologic subtypes (p < 0.001), lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.012), HER2 positivity (p < 0.001), and a high (>20%) Ki-67 index (p = 0.039). No significant correlation was found between IL-13Rα1 expression and clinicopathological variables, including tumor size, histological grade, hormone receptor expressions, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte levels. Patients with high IL-13Rα1 expression showed poorer overall survival (p = 0.044) and disease-free survival (DFS, p = 0.001) than those with low/negative expression. Subgroup analysis revealed an association between IL-13Rα1 expression and survival for HER2-negative, but not for HER2-positive tumors. Multivariate analysis showed high IL-13Rα1 expression was an independent negative prognostic factor of DFS (p = 0.019).
The results of this study suggest the IL-13 and IL-13Rα1 interaction promotes cancer cell growth and metastasis, and IL-13Rα1 expression is a potential prognostic marker in IBC.
白细胞介素（IL）-13 是一种免疫调节、抗炎细胞因子，由许多免疫细胞产生，其细胞表面受体 IL-13R（IL-13R）已知在各种人类恶性肿瘤和免疫细胞中表达。
作者通过免疫组织化学方法，在 1213 例浸润性乳腺癌（IBC）组织微阵列中评估了白细胞介素 13 受体 α1（IL-13Rα1，一种 IL-13R 亚型）的表达，以确定 IL-13Rα1 表达的预后价值。
在 619 例（51%）病例中观察到高 IL-13Rα1 表达，发现其与年龄较大（≥50 岁）（p=0.022）、淋巴结转移（p=0.015）、导管和微乳头状组织学亚型（p<0.001）、淋巴血管侵犯（p=0.012）、HER2 阳性（p<0.001）和高（>20%）Ki-67 指数（p=0.039）有关。IL-13Rα1 表达与包括肿瘤大小、组织学分级、激素受体表达和肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞水平在内的临床病理变量之间无显著相关性。高 IL-13Rα1 表达的患者总生存（p=0.044）和无病生存（DFS，p=0.001）均较差。亚组分析显示，IL-13Rα1 表达与 HER2 阴性肿瘤的生存相关，但与 HER2 阳性肿瘤无关。多变量分析显示，高 IL-13Rα1 表达是 DFS 的独立预后不良因素（p=0.019）。
本研究结果表明，IL-13 和 IL-13Rα1 的相互作用促进了癌细胞的生长和转移，IL-13Rα1 表达可能是 IBC 的一个潜在预后标志物。
