Association of serum inflammatory cytokines and Resolvin D1 concentration with pathological stage of colon cancer

Abstract

To investigate the levels of serum inflammatory cytokines and Resolvin D1 (RvD1) and their association with pathological staging of colon cancer. Clinical data of 50 colon cancer patients (colon cancer group) admitted to the General Surgery Department of Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University from January to December 2016 and 5 ml of whole blood specimen were collected at admission. During the same period, 50 healthy volunteers were enrolled (healthy volunteer group). Inclusion criteria for the colon cancer group: colon cancer diagnosed by preoperative colonoscopy and pathology; no recent enteral or parenteral nutrition support treatment or use of oral nutrition preparation; age ≤85 years; no surgical contraindications by preoperative evaluation; no history of taking fish oil-related preparations; no radiotherapy or chemotherapy before surgery. Healthy volunteer group enrollment criteria: no history of malignant tumors; no organ with organic lesions detected by the healthy examination center of our hospital; detection indicators in normal reference range; no administration of fish oil-related preparations; age ≤ 85 years. Serum inflammatory factors(IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α) concentrations were detected by chemiluminescence immunoassay; serum RvD1 concentration was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The levels of inflammatory factors and RvD1 were compared between the two groups, and their associations with TNM staging of colon cancer patients were analyzed. There were no significant differences in age, gender and nutrition-related indicators between the two groups (all P>0.05). There were 31 males and 19 females in the healthy volunteer group with age of (61.8±11.6) years. There were 23 males and 27 females in the colon cancer group with age of (65.4±12.4) years. According to the 7th edition of the American Cancer Society TNM staging criteria, 10 cases were stage I, 13 cases stage II, 17 cases stage III, and 10 cases stage IV. Compared with healthy volunteer group, colon cancer group had higher serum IL-1β [(3.89±0.24)×10 3 μg/L vs.(1.55±0.37)×10 3 μg/L, t=37.52, P<0.01], higher IL-6 [(129.14±3.07)×10 3 μg/L vs.(51.46±3.14)×10 3 μg/L, t=125.08, P<0.01], higher IL-10 [(100.59±8.69)×103 μg/L vs.(27.57±4.77)×10 3 μg/L, t=52.09, P<0.01] and higher TNF-α [(114.31±4.43)×10 3 μg/L vs.(41.04±5.27)×10 3 μg/L, t=75.25, P<0.01], while lower RvD1 [(34.19±1.93)×10 3 μg/L vs.(77.76±1.02)×10 3 μg/L, t=140.56, P<0.01], all the differences were statistically significant. Subgroup analysis revealed that concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, IL-10 and TNF-α gradually increased with the advancement of TNM staging (P<0.01). In stage III, concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, and IL-10 were the highest, TNF-α concentration was the highest in stage IV. RvD1 concentration gradually decreased with the advancement of TNM staging(P<0.01). Compared with healthy volunteers, the levels of serum inflammatory cytokines in colon cancer patients increase significantly while the level of RvD1 decreases significantly. Both are associated with higher TNM stage of colon cancer.