Association of Interleukin 6 with Positive Immunohistochemical staining of Estrogen Receptor in Breast Cancer Patients.

Abstract

The objective of this study is the evaluation of concentration levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in breast cancer patients and it's relation to estrogen receptor (ER) expression on tumor cells. The expression of IL-6 and estrogen receptor , were studied on 30 patients (positive breast cancer ) and 30 controls (negative breast cancer).Serum of studied groups were examined using Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA) for IL-6 and breast biopsy specimens were examined using immunohistochemical staining for estrogen receptor. The serum level of IL-6 was significantly higher in patients with breast cancer compared with control (p<0.05). The number of positive ER expression in patients with breast cancer was higher than the negative expression (p<0.05). The current study found a positive significant correlation (r = 249; P<0.05) between serum levels of IL-6 and estrogen receptors (ER). The results of this study suggest that elevated IL-6 serum concentration are associated with breast cancer and found that high levels of IL-6 in breast cancer patients are associated with positive estrogen receptor.