Summary: | 博士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 牙醫學研究所博士班 === 92 === Evaluation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) and the expression of their soluble receptors (sTNF-Rs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) may aid in the evaluation of immune potentials of cancer patients. Soluble receptors of tumor necrosis factor-alpha can have inhibiting effect against TNF-a. We examined the expression of TNF-a, sTNF-Rs, and the TNF-a/sTNF-Rs ratios in PBMC of betel quid-chewers with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), who were at different stages of the treatment.
PBMC were collected from 135 male subjects with betal quid chewing habit, including 116 patients with OSCC and 19 normal controls. Subjects with OSCC were further grouped according to the stages of treatment where they were at: untreated, treated for less than one year, treated for one or more years and in remission, and treated for one or more year but recurred. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantify the expression of TNF-a and its sTNF-Rs.
The expression of the TNF-a and its sTNF-Rs in the OSCC patients was higher than normal controls. Examination of levels of expression in groups at different treatment stages showed that average concentration of TNF-a and sTNF-Rs was the highest in the recurrent group and lowest in normal controls. Expression levels of sTNF-RII differed significantly over different groups, while TNF-a and sTNF-RI expressions did not. Using multiple linear regression and controlling for age, alcohol, and cigarette smoking, the TNF-a/sTNF-RII ratio showed distinct differences comparing OSCC patients at each treatment stage with normal controls.
Our data indicated that the expression of sTNF-RII and the ratio of TNF-a/sTNF-RII might have an informative value for diagnosis and prognosis of OSCC.
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