Soylu L, Ozcan C, Cetik F, Paydaş S, Kiroğlu M, Aydoğan B, Sargin O, Ozşahinoglu C, Seyrek E
Department of Otolaryngology, Cukurova University Medical Faculty, Adana, Turkey.
Am J Otolaryngol. 1994 Jul-Aug;15(4):281-5. doi: 10.1016/0196-0709(94)90096-5.
Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha is a multifunctional cytokine that influences the clinical outcome in a number of diseases. This study was undertaken to evaluate its role in the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign tumors and in the follow-up of patients. We also studied the correlation of TNF-alpha levels with the stage and differentiation of the diseases.
In this study, serum levels of TNF-alpha are determined by the immunoradiometric assay method in 26 patients with head and neck cancer, and results are compared with 8 control patients with benign diseases. In both groups, serum samples were taken before and after the therapy. After centrifugation, the sera was stored at -70 degrees C until analyzed. TNF-alpha levels were measured by TNF-alpha immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) kit (Medgenix, Diagnostics SA, Belgium).
The pretreatment mean value of TNF-alpha in the study group (814.1 pg/mL) was almost 100 times higher than in the control group (8.6 pg/mL) (P = .001). It was also noted that posttreatment mean value (94 pg/mL) was significantly lower than pretreatment mean value in the study group (P = .001). No statistically significant difference was found between serum TNF-alpha levels and the stage and differentiation of the tumor.
The serum levels of TNF-alpha may be an efficient tumor marker in the diagnosis of patients with head and neck cancer.
肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α是一种多功能细胞因子，对多种疾病的临床结局有影响。本研究旨在评估其在恶性肿瘤与良性肿瘤鉴别诊断及患者随访中的作用。我们还研究了TNF-α水平与疾病分期及分化程度的相关性。
本研究采用免疫放射分析方法测定了26例头颈癌患者血清中TNF-α水平，并与8例良性疾病对照患者的结果进行比较。两组患者均在治疗前后采集血清样本。离心后，血清保存于-70℃直至分析。TNF-α水平采用TNF-α免疫放射分析（IRMA）试剂盒（比利时Medgenix诊断公司）测定。
研究组治疗前TNF-α平均值（814.1 pg/mL）几乎是对照组（8.6 pg/mL）的100倍（P = 0.001）。还注意到研究组治疗后平均值（94 pg/mL）显著低于治疗前平均值（P = 0.001）。血清TNF-α水平与肿瘤分期及分化程度之间未发现统计学显著差异。
TNF-α血清水平可能是头颈癌患者诊断中的一种有效肿瘤标志物。
