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Int J Med Sci 2024; 21(7):1337-1343. doi:10.7150/ijms.90642 This issue Cite

Research Paper

Interleukin-25 as a Potential Biomarker in Lung Metastasis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma with HBV History in Chinese Patients: A Single Center, Case-control Study

Yuan Liao^1*, Yixin Xu^2*, Ziying Mo^1*, Tianyi Zhu², Huimin Dong^1✉, Wenying Zhou^1✉, Qing Xia^3✉

1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, China.
2. School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200025, China.
3. Department of Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, China.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.

✉ Corresponding authors: Qing Xia, Department of Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, P.R. China. Tel.: +86-21-68385559; E-mail: xiaqingedu.cn; Wenying Zhou, Department of Laboratory Medicine, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, PR China. Tel.: +86-20-85253225; Email: zhouwy3sysu.edu.cn; Huimin Dong, Department of Laboratory Medicine, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, PR China. Tel.: +86-20-85253225; Email: donghminsysu.edu.cn. More

Abstract

Background: Interleukin-25 (IL-25) has been proved to play a role in the pathogenesis and metastasis of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the relationship between the level of IL-25 and the metastasis and prognosis of HCC is still not clear. This study aimed to investigate the expression of IL-25 and other potential biochemical indicators among healthy people, HBV-associated HCC patients without lung metastasis and HBV-associated HCC patients with lung metastasis.

Methods: From September 2019 to November 2021, 33 HCC patients without lung metastasis, 37 HCC patients with lung metastasis and 29 healthy controls were included in the study. IL-25 and other commonly used biochemical markers were measured to establish predictors of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) after treatment.

Results: The serum level of IL-25 was increased in HCC patients than healthy controls (p < 0.001) and HCC patients with lung metastasis had higher IL-25 level than HCC patients without metastasis (p = 0.035). Lung metastasis also indicated higher death rate (p < 0.001) by chi-square test, higher GGT level (p = 0.024) and higher AFP level (p = 0.049) by non-parametric test. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that IL-25 was negatively associated with PFS (p = 0.024). Multivariate Cox-regression analysis indicated IL-25 (p = 0.030) and GGT (p = 0.020) to be independent predictors of poorer PFS, while IL-25 showed no significant association with OS.

Conclusion: The level of IL-25 was significantly associated with disease progression and lung metastasis of HBV-associated HCC. The high expression of IL-25 predicted high recurrence rate and death probability of HCC patients after treatment. Therefore, IL-25 may be an effective predictor of prognosis in HCC.

Keywords: Interleukin-25, hepatocellular carcinoma, lung metastasis, prognosis

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