Preoperative Serum IL6, IL8, and TNF-α May Predict the Recurrence of Hepatocellular Cancer

Abstract

Purpose As we all know, curative resection remains the only effective treatment for hepatocellular cancer (HCC). However, systemic inflammatory response syndrome always correlates with surgery, which may impose an impact on the clinical outcome of HCC patients who had undergone curative treatment. The present study is aimed at exploring the correlation between perioperative inflammatory mediators and recurrence risk of HCC. Methods This study retrospectively included 157 histologically confirmed single HCC patients (88 patients developed HCC again) who had received radical hepatectomy between January 2016 and May 2018 at the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the People's Liberation Army General Hospital (PLAGH), China. The cut-off values for predicting recurrence were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis with estimation of the Youden index. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the difference was compared between groups by the log-rank test. Univariate/multivariate analysis was performed to identify independent risk factors of postoperative tumor recurrence. Results The perioperative serum IL1, IL2, and IL10 levels showed no difference between groups, whereas the serum IL6, IL8, and TNF-α levels showed significant differences between groups. High preoperative serum IL6, IL8, and TNF-α levels were significantly associated with shorter RFS. Multivariate analysis revealed that preoperative serum IL6 > 8.45 pg/ml, preoperative serum IL8 > 68 pg/ml, preoperative serum TNF − α > 14.9 pg/ml, microvascular invasion (MVI), and maximum tumor size > 6 cm were independent predictors of RFS. Conclusions The present study confirmed that high preoperative serum IL6, IL8, and TNF-α levels were distinctly correlated with the postoperative tumor recurrence risk of HCC patients.

Prognostic impact of portal area inflammation on intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma patients without lymph node metastasis

“…Analyzing the causes of this phenomenon, it is suggest that, first of all, inflammation in the portal area leads to poor function of residual liver after surgery, which increases the probability of postoperative liver failure, thus causing poor survival prognosis of patients ( 25 , 26 ). In addition, the presence of inflammation in the portal area means that the inflammatory factors in the liver, such as tumor necrosis factor and interleukin, are at a high level, which is often positively related to tumor recurrence ( 27 , 28 ).…”

Therapeutic Effects of Natural Products on Liver Cancer and Their Potential Mechanisms

“…The transcription factor STAT3, which stands for Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3, undergoes transient activation in normal cells but exhibits heightened activity in many tumor cells and adjacent cancer tissues [ 163 ]. Aberrant activation of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway is a common mechanism leading to the occurrence of liver cancer, where overexpression of STAT3 is often observed [ 164 ]. STAT3, acting as a driving factor, plays a critical role in the initiation, progression, metastasis, and immune evasion of liver cancer and is associated with poor prognosis.…”

Inflammation and Gastric Cancer

“…Moreover, these oxidants can also cause DNA damage resulting in mutation (genetic alteration) or alteration of the presentation of genes without mutation (epigenetic alteration) [ 5 ]. Given this strong relationship between inflammation and cancers, chronic inflammatory markers are sometimes used as a predictor and assessment tool to determine cancer status, such as interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α), in hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence [ 6 ]. Therefore, more knowledge about inflammatory-related carcinogenesis mechanisms can benefit cancer prevention and identify treatment targets.…”