Further EGFR inhibitor analyses
on the cytokines in HCC and PNALT patients are shown in Table 5. Only sTNFR-II and IL-8 levels among patients with PNALT and HCC were analyzed. There were no satisfactory cutoff values for either IL-2R or sFas for both specificity and sensitivity, i.e., one on the expense of the other as evident by the ROC curve. Table 5 sTNFR-II and IL-8 levels in PNALT and HCC cases Cytokines (pg/ml) PNALT, N = 17 HCC, N = 30 p -value sTNFR-II ≥ 398 2 (11.8%) 22 (73%) 0.000 sTNFR-II < 398 15 (88.2%) 6 (27%) 0.000 IL-8 < 345 4 (23.5%) 29 (97%) 0.000 IL-8 ≥ 345 13 (76.5%) 1 (3.3%) 0.000 TNFR-II ≥ 398 or IL-8 <290. Either + ve 5 (29.4%) 30 (100%) 0.000 TNFR-II ≥ 398 and IL-8 <290. Both - ve 12 (70.6%) 0 (0%) 0.000 TNFR-II ≥ 398 and IL-8 <290. Both + ve 0 (0%) 21 (70%) 0.000 Others 17 (100%) 9 (30%) 0.000 PNALT: chronic hepatitis C with persistent normal alanine aminotrasferase;
HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma. Among the HCC patients, 22/30 (73.3%) had mean sTNFR-II levels of ≥ 398 pg/ml, whereas only 2/17 (11.8%) cases with PNALT had this value with a highly significant difference (p = 0.000). Regarding IL-8, 29/30 (96.7%) HCC patients had IL-8 level < 345 pg/ml compared to only 4/17 cases with PNALT, whereas most PNALT patients had IL-8 ≥ 345 pg/ml (p = 0.000). When both sTNFR-II and IL-8 were combined together, all HCC cases 100% had either sTNFR-II ≥ 398 pg/ml or IL-8 < 290 pg/ml (p = 0.000) X-396 concentration and 21/30 (70%) HCC had
sTNFR-II ≥ 398 pg/ml and IL-8 < 290 pg/ml compared to none of PNALT cases (p = 0.000). In this vein, combined assessment of both sTNFR-II and IL-8 at a cutoff of ≥ 398 pg/ml and < 290 pg/ml, respectively, would be better in the diagnosis of HCC than either of them individually. Discussion HCC generally develops following an orderly progression from cirrhosis to dysplastic nodules to early cancer development, which can be reliably cured if discovered before the development of vascular invasion [34]. Early detection of HCC in those patients provides the best chance for a curative treatment, but AFP levels are frequently normal in patients with small HCC and are not elevated in a significant proportion of patients with early-stage, 6-phosphogluconolactonase potentially curable HCC. Elevated concentrations of cytokines represent a characteristic feature of CLD, regardless of the underlying etiology, and may represent a consequence of liver dysfunction instead of an inflammatory disorder [35]. Cytokines imbalance between T-helper 1 (Th1) and T-helper 2 (Th2) can prolong inflammation, leading to necrosis, fibrosis and CLD [36] in addition to the development and progression of HCC [37]. Cytokine production is thought to play an important role in the recruitment of tumor associated inflammatory cells, induction of angiogenesis and direct modulation of tumor cell proliferation [38, 39].