Clinic of Oncology, University Clinical Center of Kosovo, Prishtina, Kosovo.
Department of Oncology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
World J Surg Oncol. 2022 Jul 6;20(1):225. doi: 10.1186/s12957-022-02646-7.
The important role that the immune system plays in malignant diseases is well known. The action of interleukin-7 (IL-7) as a cytokine has been observed in many cellular processes, both in normal cells of the immune system and in some cancer cells. The aim of this study has been to explore whether there is any elevation of interleukin-7 serum levels in early invasive breast cancer (EIBC) patients in comparison with healthy controls. In addition, the correlation between the IL-7 serum level and the histopathological characteristics of the tumor has been evaluated.
This cross-sectional, observational, and analytical study included 213 consecutive patients with EIBC (113 from Croatia and 100 from Kosovo) and 62 healthy participants as the control group (30 from Croatia and 32 from Kosovo). Blood samples have been taken from patients confirmed with breast cancer (BC) by biopsy, prior to surgical intervention and other oncological treatments, as well as from healthy participants. A serum IL-7 level has been measured, using the "Sandwich" ELISA Immunoenzyme test. In addition, after the surgical intervention, histopathological specimen examinations and immunohistochemistry have been performed and analyzed. The differences in the distribution of the numerical variables have been analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test. Correlations have been tested with Pearson coefficients. A P-value < 0.05 has been accepted as statistically significant.
The serum level of IL-7 in EIBC patients was significantly higher than in control cases (P 0.001). Patients with invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) seem to have a lower IL-7 serum level compared to other histological subtypes, and the difference has been significant (P = 0.043). There has been no correlation between IL-7 serum level and histopathological characteristics of the tumor, with neither age nor menopausal status of the patients.
Noting the significant increase in the IL-7 serum level in the EIBC patients as compared to the healthy control group, the use of IL-7 as a potential diagnostic indicator for BC, as well as in the follow-up of the patients after treatment, can be assumed. The lack of correlation with tumor size, lymph node metastasis, and all other histopathological characteristics of the tumor questions its use as a prognostic indicator.
免疫系统在恶性疾病中发挥的重要作用是众所周知的。白细胞介素-7（IL-7）作为细胞因子的作用在免疫系统的正常细胞和一些癌细胞的许多细胞过程中都有观察到。本研究的目的是探讨早期浸润性乳腺癌（EIBC）患者与健康对照组相比，其血清白细胞介素-7（IL-7）水平是否升高。此外，还评估了 IL-7 血清水平与肿瘤组织病理学特征之间的相关性。
这是一项横断面、观察性和分析性研究，纳入了 213 例连续确诊的 EIBC 患者（来自克罗地亚的 113 例和来自科索沃的 100 例）和 62 例健康对照组参与者（来自克罗地亚的 30 例和来自科索沃的 32 例）。在手术干预和其他肿瘤治疗之前，通过活检从乳腺癌（BC）患者和健康对照组参与者中抽取血样。使用“三明治”ELISA 免疫酶试验测量血清 IL-7 水平。此外，在手术干预后，进行了组织病理学标本检查和免疫组织化学分析。使用曼-惠特尼 U 检验和克鲁斯卡尔-沃利斯 ANOVA 检验分析数值变量的分布差异。使用皮尔逊系数检验相关性。P 值<0.05 被认为具有统计学意义。
EIBC 患者的血清 IL-7 水平明显高于对照组（P<0.001）。浸润性小叶癌（ILC）患者的血清 IL-7 水平似乎低于其他组织学亚型，差异具有统计学意义（P=0.043）。IL-7 血清水平与肿瘤的组织病理学特征之间无相关性，与患者的年龄或绝经状态无关。
鉴于 EIBC 患者的 IL-7 血清水平与健康对照组相比显著升高，因此可以假设 IL-7 可作为 BC 的潜在诊断指标，以及在治疗后患者的随访中使用。其与肿瘤大小、淋巴结转移和肿瘤的所有其他组织病理学特征均无相关性，这使其作为预后指标的用途受到质疑。
