Expression of Th17 cell population regulatory cytokines in laryngeal carcinoma - Preliminary study

Aim of the study was to evaluate the potential role of regulatory and proinflammatory cytokines IL-23 and IL-17 as Th17 lymphocyte activity markers in relation to invasiveness in laryngeal cancer.

The immunological analysis was conducted in 50 patients treated for squamous cell laryngeal carcinoma and 30 healthy volunteers as controls. The levels of IL-23 and IL-17 in supernatants of purified peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures were determined by using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The clinicomorphological criteria included pTNM, stage, G, and the total tumour front grading (TFG) score.

Our data demonstrated higher concentrations of IL-23 in patients as compared to controls (p = 0.0001). No statistical difference for IL-17 in these groups was observed. Our study revealed significant dependences in IL-23 expression on pT (p = 0.04), histological differentiation (p = 0.04), and TFG total score (p = 0.02). Advanced tumours (pT3-pT4) with higher grade (G2-G3) and higher invasiveness (> 14 TFG points) were characterised by elevated IL-23 levels in PBMC supernatants. Our data did not indicate a relationship between cytokine levels and three- and five-year survival. However, a tendency towards lower content of IL-23 in PBMC cultures in patients who lived longer than five years after treatment was noted. The relationships between IL-17 level in PBMC cultures and clinicomorphological and prognostic parameters have not been disclosed.

The results of this study suggest the importance of regulatory cytokine IL-23 in determining the aggressive potential of laryngeal carcinomas.