OncoTargets and Therapy (Sep 2018)

Combined detection of IL-6 and IL-8 is beneficial to the diagnosis of early stage esophageal squamous cell cancer: a preliminary study based on the screening of serum markers using protein chips

  • Tong Q,
  • Wang XL,
  • Li SB,
  • Yang GL,
  • Jin S,
  • Gao ZY,
  • Liu XB

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 11
pp. 5777 – 5787

Abstract

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Qiang Tong,1 Xiao-long Wang,2 Sheng-bao Li,1 Gong-li Yang,1 Shu Jin,1 Zi-ye Gao,3 Xiao-bo Liu1 1Department of Gastroenterology, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, 442000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Gastroenterology, Dongfeng General Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, 442000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Oncology, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, 442000, People’s Republic of China Background: The diagnosis rate of early stage esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is low due to the lack of specific tumor markers. Seeking for these markers is beneficial to improve the early diagnosis rate and the prognosis of patients. This study profiles the differentially expressed proteins of early stage ESCC patients via the AAH-BLG-507 protein chip, which further consolidates the clinical evidence of ESCC diagnosis. Materials and methods: In this study, 20 serum samples were collected from Taihe Hospital between August 2016 and June 2017. Ten of them carried ESCC, while the rest were healthy controls. To profile the proteins’ expression level, the AAH-BLG-507 protein chip was used, and both highly expressed and lowly expressed proteins were fished out. Meanwhile, their biological roles were examined by using Gene Ontology (GO) database and String database, and they were further verified by ELISA. Results: Results showed that the expression levels of AXL, ARTN, Ang2, BDNF, BMP7, cripto-1, CCL28, E-selectin, IL-6, IL-8 and SHH in the serum of early ESCC were significantly upregulated (P<0.05), particularly IL-6 and IL-8. The expression levels of TSP1 and MMP-8 were markedly downregulated (P<0.05). Analysis showed that these proteins were mainly involved in angiogenesis, signal transduction, cell proliferation and migration, indicating the close relationship with the development of ESCC. Conclusion: It suggested that IL-6 and IL-8 proteins could be considered as the markers for ESCC diagnosis. Keywords: early stage esophageal cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, protein chip, tumor marker, bioinformatics analysis

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