Abstract
Background Role of interleukin 17A (IL-17A) in carcinogenesis and cancer growth is controversial. Although some researches support its antitumor activity, some others suggest that it promotes the growth and development of different types of cancer including skin cancer by activation of STAT3. Although the function of the cytokines such as IL-17A has been extensively studied in various types of cancer, nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) has not received much attention. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate the serum levels of IL-17A in NMSC patients. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed on 60 patients with basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) as well as 57 age-sex matched healthy individuals as control group. Measurement of IL-17A serum levels in both case and control groups was performed by a commercially reliable sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. Results In this study, we observed that IL-17A serum levels in NMSC patients were significantly higher than the control group (P < 0.001). Also, both BCC and SCC patients had higher levels of IL-17A in their sera in comparison to the controls (P=0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). However, there was no significant difference between SCC and BCC patients regarding serum levels of IL-17A. Conclusion According to our results, it can be concluded that IL-17A may play a role in inducing the growth and progression of NMSC and it can be used as a therapeutic target in these patients in future.
Highlights
Skin cancer is one of the substantial health problems, which is the most common and most preventable malignancy in the world and its incidence does not show any signs of plateauing [1]
Skin cancer is commonly categorized as malignant melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) which is diagnosed more commonly than all other malignancies. e incidence of NMSC has increased by 4% annually, and currently, 2-3 million NMSCs are diagnosed worldwide each year [2]. ere are several risk factors for all skin cancer types such as environmental, genetic, immunologic, and phenotypic factors [3, 4]
Due to the controversial but remarkable role of interleukin 17A (IL-17A) in cancer, in the present study, we investigated the serum levels of this cytokine in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients to determine its role as a biomarker for skin cancer
Summary
Role of interleukin 17A (IL-17A) in carcinogenesis and cancer growth is controversial. Is cross-sectional study was performed on 60 patients with basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) as well as 57 age-sex matched healthy individuals as control group. We observed that IL-17A serum levels in NMSC patients were significantly higher than the control group (P < 0.001). Both BCC and SCC patients had higher levels of IL-17A in their sera in comparison to the controls (P 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). It can be concluded that IL-17A may play a role in inducing the growth and progression of NMSC and it can be used as a therapeutic target in these patients in future
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