Leng Qixin, Dhilipkannah Pushpa, Jiang Feng
Departments of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
J Pers Med. 2024 Jan 20;14(1):117. doi: 10.3390/jpm14010117.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among both men and women. African Americans (AAs) experience disproportionately higher incidence and mortality compared to other ethnic groups. Cytokines play multifaceted and crucial roles in the initiation, progression, and spread of cancer. Our aim was to identify cytokine biomarkers for the early detection of lung cancer in AAs. We examined eight key cytokines (Interleukin-1, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)) in the plasma of 104 lung cancer patients and 48 cancer-free individuals using the FirePlex Immunoassay. These findings were subsequently validated in a separate cohort of 58 cases and 58 controls. IL-8, IFN-γ, and TNF-α exhibited elevated levels in both AA and White American (WA) lung cancer cases. Notably, IL-10 and MCP-1 displayed significant increases specifically in AA lung cancer patients, with MCP-1 levels associated with lung adenocarcinoma cases. Conversely, WA lung cancer patients showed heightened IL-6 levels, particularly linked to lung adenocarcinoma. The combined use of specific cytokines showed promise in lung cancer diagnosis, with IL-8, IL-10, and MCP-1 achieving 76% sensitivity and 79% specificity in AAs and IL-6 and IL-8 combined offering 76% sensitivity and 74% specificity in WAs. These diagnostic biomarkers were validated in the independent cohort. The ethnicity-related cytokine biomarkers hold promise for diagnosing lung cancer in AAs and WAs, potentially addressing the observed racial disparity.
肺癌是男性和女性癌症相关死亡的主要原因。与其他种族群体相比，非裔美国人（AA）的发病率和死亡率高得不成比例。细胞因子在癌症的发生、发展和扩散中发挥着多方面的关键作用。我们的目的是确定用于早期检测非裔美国人肺癌的细胞因子生物标志物。我们使用FirePlex免疫分析法检测了104例肺癌患者和48例无癌个体血浆中的8种关键细胞因子（白细胞介素-1、IL-6、IL-8、IL-10、IL-12p70、单核细胞趋化蛋白-1（MCP-1）、干扰素-γ（IFN-γ）和肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α））。这些发现随后在一个由58例病例和58例对照组成的独立队列中得到验证。IL-8、IFN-γ和TNF-α在非裔美国人和美国白人（WA）肺癌病例中的水平均升高。值得注意的是，IL-10和MCP-1在非裔美国人肺癌患者中显著升高，MCP-1水平与肺腺癌病例相关。相反，美国白人肺癌患者的IL-6水平升高，尤其与肺腺癌有关。特定细胞因子的联合使用在肺癌诊断中显示出前景，IL-8、IL-10和MCP-1在非裔美国人中实现了76%的敏感性和79%的特异性，IL-6和IL-8联合使用在美国白人中提供了76%的敏感性和74%的特异性。这些诊断生物标志物在独立队列中得到验证。与种族相关的细胞因子生物标志物有望用于诊断非裔美国人和美国白人的肺癌，有可能解决观察到的种族差异问题。
