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Interleukin-17 is a favorable prognostic marker for colorectal cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

The role of interleukin-17 (IL-17) in the tumor microenvironment is controversial. We analyzed the in situ tumor expression of IL-17 in colorectal cancer (CRC), adenoma and non-tumor tissue to explore the possible correlation of IL-17 expression to clinicopathological characteristics, tumor-infiltrating neutrophils (TINs) and survival in CRC.

Methods

We reviewed the records of 78 consecutive patients diagnosed with CRC. Archival tissues were used. Thirty-six patients with colorectal adenoma were also included. From the 78 CRC patients, we randomly chose 40 cases and collected non-tumor tissue at 10 cm from the edge of the resected tumor. Immunohistochemistry was performed using anti-IL-17 and anti-CD15 (targeting neutrophils) antibody, respectively. Real-time PCR was used to detect IL-17 mRNA in different tissues. Associations between IL-17 expression, clinicopathological parameters and prognosis were evaluated.

Results

The level of IL-17 mRNA was higher in CRC than in adenoma and non-tumor tissue (P < 0.05). Positive IL-17 protein expression was observed more frequently in CRC as compared to colorectal adenoma and non-tumor tissue, respectively (P < 0.01). IL-17 expression correlated to well differentiation and early stage CRC. The number of CD15+ neutrophils significantly increased in CRC and positively correlated to the expression of IL-17 (P < 0.05). Both Kaplan–Meier analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that patients with positive IL-17 expression showed better overall survival.

Conclusions

The association between IL-17 expression and the clinicopathological parameters, as well as the clinical outcome suggests a significant role of IL-17 in CRC. IL-17 is a marker of favorable prognosis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 11ykpy32, YL) and the Yat-Sen Scholarship for Young Scientist (YL).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

The study has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital. Written informed consent was obtained from each patient.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Y. Lin, H. Su, W. Zhong, Y. Yuan, Z. Yu, Y. Fang, H. Zhou, C. Li & K. Huang

  2. Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Gene Regulation and Target Therapy of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Y. Lin

  3. Department of Gastroenterology, The People’s Hospital of Jiangmen, Jiangmen, 529000, China

    J. Xu

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  1. Y. Lin
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Correspondence to Y. Lin.

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Lin, Y., Xu, J., Su, H. et al. Interleukin-17 is a favorable prognostic marker for colorectal cancer. Clin Transl Oncol 17, 50–56 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-014-1197-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-014-1197-3

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