This study sought to reveal the significance of IL-6 in papillary thyroid carcinoma by determining its circulating levels, tumoral protein, and mRNA expressions. As compared to the healthy individuals, serum IL-6 was significantly higher in patients with benign thyroid diseases and PTC. Further, its level was significantly higher in PTC patients as compared to patients with benign thyroid diseases. ROC curves also confirmed a good discriminatory efficacy of serum IL-6 between healthy individuals and patients with benign thyroid diseases and PTC. The circulating IL-6 was significantly associated with poor overall survival in PTC patients. IL-6 immunoreactivity was significantly high in PTC patients as compared to the benign thyroid disease patients. Significantly higher IL-6 mRNA expression was also observed in the primary tumour tissues of PTC patients than the adjacent normal tissues. The protein expression of IL-6 at both the circulating and tissue level correlated with disease aggressiveness in PTC patients. Moreover, a significant positive correlation was observed between the IL-6 protein and mRNA expression in the primary tumours of PTC patients. Finally in conclusion, IL-6 has an important role in thyroid cancer progression. Thus targeting IL-6 signalling can help in clinical management of thyroid carcinoma patients.

Circulating levels of TNF-α and the adhesion molecules L-Selectin and VCAM-1 as well as their expression in the primary tumors of patients with benign thyroid diseases and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) have been determined in this study. The serum levels of TNF-α, L-Selectin, and VCAM-1 were significantly higher in patients with both benign thyroid diseases and PTC as compared to the healthy individuals. However, the levels of only TNF-α and L-Selectin, and not VCAM-1, were significantly higher in patients with PTC in comparison to those observed in patients with benign thyroid diseases. Further the expression of TNF-α and L-Selectin was also significantly higher in the primary tumors of PTC patients, relative to the benign thyroid diseases. The expression of L-Selectin and VCAM-1 significantly correlated with aggressive tumor behavior. In PTC patients, the circulating TNF-α levels significantly positively correlated with the levels of L-Selectin, while TNF-α immunoreactivity was significantly associated with VCAM-1 expression. Serum TNF-α was found to be a significant prognosticator for OS in PTC patients. Overall the results signify that the interaction between TNF-α and the adhesion molecules may have a role in thyroid carcinogenesis and understanding this complexity may offer potential therapeutic targets for better management of thyroid cancer.

The above findings suggest that coexpression of 5-FU metabolic enzymes possess significant prognostic value and could be useful biomarkers in colorectal cancer patients.

Aim: Excision repair cross complementation group 1 (ERCC1) has a key role in enhanced DNA damage repair caused by oxaliplatin-based therapy and may lead to resistance of these platinum drugs in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Hence, the present preliminary study aimed to explore the role of ERCC1 C/T polymorphism at codon 118 as well as its immunoreactivity in patients with primary CRC. Methods: ERCC1 polymorphism was studied using PCR-RFLP and ERCC1 protein expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in 50 CRC patients. Results: ERCC1 codon 118 C/T polymorphism analysis reported the predominance of C/T (52%) genotype as compared to C/C (38%) and T/T (10%) genotypes. Furthermore, 72% of patients showed positive ERCC1 protein expression. Significant correlation was not observed between clinicopathological parameters and ERCC1 polymorphism, while ERCC1 protein expression significantly correlated only with tumor site (colon vs. rectum) (P = 0.046). Further, the present study failed to demonstrate the role of ERCC1 C118T polymorphism or protein expression as useful prognostic markers in CRC patients. Conclusion: ERCC1-positive protein expression may be a useful marker for rectal cancer patients. However, further evaluation in a larger set of CRC patients is required to better understand the role of ERCC1. Key words:Excision repair cross complementation group 1, oxaliplatin, colorectal cancer, polymorphism, protein expression, PCR-RFLP, immunohistochemistry ABSTRACTArticle history:

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