TITLE:
Peripheral Blood Cytokines Levels in Senegalese Women with Cervical Cancer during Chemotherapy
AUTHORS:
Diop Maimouna, Folly Mawulolo Gaba, Doudou Georges Massar Niang, Doudou Diouf, Sidy Ka, Moustapha Mbow, Rokhaya Ndiaye Diallo, Maguette Sylla Niang, Mbacké Sembene, Ahmadou Dem, Babacar Mbengue, Alioune Dieye
KEYWORDS:
Cervical Cancer, Chemotherapy, Cytokines, Biomarkers
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Immunology,
Vol.12 No.4,
December
12,
2022
ABSTRACT: Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths of women in
developing world. Several studies demonstrated evidences of inflammatory
cytokines implication in cancer progression including in initiation, promotion
and invasion by affecting the immune surveillance. Our aim was to measure blood
circulating pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines levels, their profiles
according to treatment issue and relation with prognostic factors in cervical
cancer during chemotherapy. Blood samples were collected from a cohort of 35
cervical cancer women and 42 women healthy controls (HC) with no history of
malignancy. For each CP, three samples were taken at three-week intervals. The
first one (S1) was taken before initiation of the chemotherapy protocol. S2 and
S3 were samples collected respectively at day 21 and day 42. Cytokines levels
were evaluated by ELISA. Mean age of patients was 54.1 year (35 - 77 yo). In groups, no relation
was observed between age and cytokines levels. Before chemotherapy, high levels
of IL-6, IL-4 and IFN-γ were observed
in CP compared to HC (p 0.001) and at the same period, IL-10 and TNF-α levels were significantly low in CP (p
0.05) and negatively correlated (r =—0.79; p = 0.017). In this CP group,
IL-4 levels were positively correlated between S1 and S2 (r = 0.72; p = 0.002) and between S1 and S3 (r = 0.74; p = 0.019).
Similar correlations were observed for TNF-α levels: S1/S2 (r = 0.54; p = 0.027), S2/S3 (r = 0.82; p = 0.009)
and S1/S3 (r = 0.66; p = 0.036) with a significant
increase of TNF-α in blood during
treatment. Depending on chemotherapy’s efficacy, CP patients were separated
into 1) non responders (NR), 2) partial responders (PR) and 3) good responders
(GR). Compared to PR and GR groups, NR patients showed: a) higher serum levels of
IL-6, IL-10 and IFN-γ during the follow-up and b)
lower serum levels of IL-4 and TNF-α.
In addition, serum levels of IL-4 were significantly higher in GR patients
however TNF-α was the predominant
cytokines in PR group. Our results highlight the variation of circulating
cytokines such as IL-6, IL-10 and IFN-γ during cervical cancer chemotherapy. In addition, this study suggested that IL-4 and TNF-α might represent potential biomarkers candidate in cervical
cancer. Applications in cancer management need further investigations particularly
about the relevant prognostic indicator following chemotherapy and validation
studies must provide more assurance for translation into clinical practice.