Liver Resection Promotes (Regulates) Proinflammatory Cytokines in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Several animal studies have shown the roles of cytokines in regulating liver regeneration following liver resection (LR), which is a type of surgery designed to remove cancerous tumors from the liver. This study investigated how the expressions and serum levels of some pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were changed during LR.

Methods: Liver tissues from 15 patients with HCC were collected and the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), IL-1α, IL-1 β, IL-10, and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-β1) were assessed using real-time PCR assay at different times before and after LR. The serum values of TNF-α and IL-6 were also measured by ELISA.

Results: After 60 and 90 minutes of LR, IL-6 gene expression was significantly increased (P < 0.001 - 0.05). The same trend was also observed in TNF-α expression after 90 minutes of LR (P < 0.01). No significant changes were observed in the expressions of IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-10, and TGF-β1 before and after LR. In addition, LR had significant effects on TNF-α and IL-6 serum levels (P < 0.05 - 0.0001).

Conclusion: Our data provided further evidence to reveal that IL-6 and TNF-α cytokines are critical to improve liver regeneration.

Figure 1

The effect of liver regeneration on the expression levels of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in HCC patients. The expressions of (a) IL-6, (b) TNF-α, (c) IL-1α, (d) IL-1β, (e) IL-10, and (f) TGF-β1 were determined by real-time PCR assay before and after LR. All data are shown as mean ± SEM. The depicted results are representative of 15 independent experiments. NS indicates that the differences in the expression levels are not statistically significant. Asterisks indicate that the differences in the expression levels are statistically significant. ^∗P < 0.05, ^∗∗P < 0.01, and ^∗∗∗P < 0.001.

Figure 2

The effect of liver regeneration on the serum concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines in HCC patients. The levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in patients with HCC were measured before and after liver regeneration using ELISA ((a) and (b)). The depicted results are representative of 15 independent experiments for HCC subjects. All data are shown as mean ± SEM. ^∗P < 0.05 and ^∗∗∗P < 0.001.