| Objective: At present in the diagnosis,curative effect monitoring and prognosis of lung cancer, in addition to the commonly used types of tumor markers, cytokines also cause for concern in their roles in the development of lung cancer. Through the detection of the expression levels of Th1,Th2 and VEGF in plasma of lung cancer patients and healthy controls,we analyzed the cytokines in two groups. We also discussed the relationships between these kinds of cytokines and tumor markers of age, sex, clinical stage, pathological types, and the degree of differentiation in patients with lung cancer. We studied the correlations between various cytokines in lung cancer group, and the correlations between tumor markers and cytokines, to explore the clinical significance of combined detection of cytokines and tumor markers in the development and diagnosis of lung cancer.Methods: We chose 206 cases pathology-confirmed lung cancer patients as case group, and 71 cases of healthy persons as control group. We detected Th1, Th2 cytokines, VEGF and tumor markers in the case group and the control group, and then analyzed the above indicators in expression levels of the differences between the two groups, discussed their significances in the development of lung cancer.Results: 1. In plasma of 206 cases lung cancer patients, the expression levels of Th1 cytokines, IL- 2 and IL-12P70(2.54±0.80,3.01±1.45) pg/ml were lower than that of healthy controls(6.94±4.19,3.09±0.15) pg/ml, the results had statistical significance(P < 0.05), the expression levels of IFN-γ, IL-1β and TNF-α(3.46±5.62,2.84±0.30, 10.59±9.17) pg/ml were higher than healthy controls(2.51±1.91,2.77±0.25, 7.14±2.67) pg/ml, the differences were statistically significant(P < 0.01), and there was no difference of IL-12P40 between the two groups; the expression levels of Th2 cytokines,IL- 6, IL- 8 and IL- 10(2.89±1.44,3.20±13.13,2.78±1.77) pg/ml were higher than healthy controls(2.84±1.27,2.24±1.03,2.26±0.02) pg/ml, the results had statistical significances(P < 0.01);the expression level of VEGF in lung cancer group was lower than that in control group(P < 0.05).2. The expressions of cytokines in different clinical features: in patients with lung cancer, the expression of VEGF was higher in male patients than that in women(P<0.05), there were no differences in the expression levels of Th1 and Th2 type cytokines in gender; no differences were found in the expressions of various cytokines in the clinical features of age, pathological types and differentiation degree of lung cancer; the expression of IL-8 in plasma of patients with stage III/IV(4.70±15.38)pg/ml was higher than that in stage I/II(2.96±2.14)pg/ml(P<0.01), and there were no differences in the expression levels of other cytokines in different clinical stages.3.The expressions of tumor markers in different clinical features: the expression levels of ferritin and CYFRA21-1 in male patients with lung cancer were significantly higher than that of the female(P < 0.01), the expression level of CA125 in male patients with lung cancer was lower than that of female patients(P < 0.05),other tumor markers with different gender had no expression differences; there were no differences in the levels of age and the degree of differentiation between the various tumor markers in the patients with lung cancer; the expression levels of CYFRA21-1 and CA153 in different pathological types of lung cancer were statistically significant(P<0.05), and there were no differences in the expression of other indicators; the expression levels of CEA,CA153,tumor specific growth factor,CYFRA21-1,NSE,CA125 and CA199 in serum of patients with stage III/IV lung cancer were higher than stage I/II patients(P < 0.05),and there were no differences in the expression levels of others in different clinical stages.4. Correlations between cytokines: in lung cancer patients, IFN-γ was positively correlated with IL-12P40, IL-12P70, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and VEGF; IL-2 was positively correlated with IL-12P40, IL-12P70, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10;IL-12P40 was positively correlated with IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and TNF-α;IL-12P70 was positively correlated with IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and VEGF;IL-1β was positively correlated with IL-8, IL-10 and VEGF; IL-6 was positively correlated with IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α and VEGF;IL-8 was positively correlated with IL-10, TNF-α and VEGF;TNF-α was positively correlated with VEGF, above results had statistical significances(P < 0.05).5. Correlations between cytokines and tumor markers: in patients with lung cancer, IFN-γ was positively correlated with NSE, CA125 and tumor specific growth factor;IL-12P70 was positively correlated with CA153 and tumor specific growth factor; IL-6 was positively related with CYFRA21-1, NSE, CA125, CA153, ferritin and tumor specific growth factor;IL-8 was positively related with CYFRA21-1, NSE, CA125, CA153 and tumor specific growth factor; IL-10 was positively correlated with CA125; VEGF was positively correlated with tumor specific growth factor. All the results had statistical significances(P < 0.05).Conclusion: 1. Overall, the expression levels of Th1 type cytokines in plasma of patients with lung cancer were lower than normal people, and the expression levels of Th2 type cytokines were higher than normal people. It indicated that the immune status of patients with lung cancer in vivo existed the phenomenon of Th1/Th2 drift, the immune system of lung cancer patients had function disorder, it may have close relationship with the incidence of lung cancer development.2. In patients with lung cancer, the expression of VEGF was higher in male patients than that in women, there were no differences in the expression levels of Th1 and Th2 type cytokines in gender. No differences were found in the expressions of various cytokines in the clinical features of age, pathological types and differentiation degree of lung cancer. The expression level of IL-8 in plasma of patients with stage III/IV was higher than that in stage I/II, and there were no differences in the expression levels of other cytokines in different clinical stages.3. Tumor markers were closely related to the gender, pathological types and clinical stage of lung cancer patients, but had no significant correlation with age and the degree of differentiation.4. Combined detection of cytokines and common tumor markers in patients with lung cancer, and to analyze the correlation of various cytokines and tumor marker, will contribute to the understanding of lung cancer patients with immune system state, and may provide a new method for immunotherapy of lung cancer. |
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