Expression of interleukin-17 and interleukin-6 and their clinical significance in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the clinical values of the expression of interleukin-17 (IL-17)and IL-6 in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC).Methods Immunohistochemistry (Envision) was used to detect the expressions of IL-17 and IL-6 in 69 specimens of ICC tissue and 63 paired adjacent nontumor liver tissues.The relationship between the expression of IL-17 and IL-6,as well as clinicopathological features and prognosis was analyzed.Results The median density of IL-17 + cells in ICC and adjacent non-tumor liver tissues was 36.0 cells/HP and 8.0 cells/HP,respectively.The positive expression rate of IL-6 in IL-17 low expression group and high expression group was 46.9％ and 75.0％ respectively.The expression levels of IL-17 were positively correlated with those of IL-6 in ICC tissues (r =0.256,P ＜0.05).The patients with low expression level of IL-17 in ICC tissue showed significantly prolonged survival (P＜0.01 ).Cox multivariate analysis showed that the IL-17 in ICC tissues was independent prognostic factor for ICC patients undergong resection ( HR =2.462,P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusion The level of IL-17 expression was positively correlated with the expression of IL-6 in ICC tissues,but negatively correlated with the post-operative survival of ICC patients.The levels of intratumoral IL-17 expression may be a potential prognostic indicator for ICC patients after resection. Key words: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; Interleukin-17; Interleukin-6; Prognosis