Abstract:Objective To explore the expressions and significancse of interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-18 in serum and tissues of patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN) and cervical cancer, and to analyze their relationships with clinical pathological characteristics and prognosis. Methods One hundred and eight patients′ tissues and clinical blood samples (68 cases of CIN and 40 cases of squamous cell carcinoma) were enrolled in this study, including 25 with low-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CINⅠ), 43 with high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CINⅡ-Ⅲ), and 40 with invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC); meanwhile, 20 cases normal cervical tissues were enrolled. The expressions of IL-10 and IL-18 in cervical tissues and serum of the studied patients were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and polymerase chain reaction. Meanwhile, second generation hybrid capture was used to detect human papilloma virus(HPV) DNA in cervical smears obtained from the studied patients with the different lesions. The relationships among IL-10 and IL-18 with HPV DNA and clinical prognosis were analyzed. Results The expressions of IL-10 and IL-18 in normal control serum were (212.75±62.09), (187.84±81.03)pg/ml respectively. The expressions of IL-10 in CINⅠ, CINⅡ-Ⅲ and SCC serums were (324.71±75.87), (397.43±68.56), (482.77±104.05)pg/ml, with statistically significant difference (F=17.657,P=0.001). The expressions of IL-18 in CINⅠ, CINⅡ-Ⅲ and SCC serums were (305.53±64.08), (392.74±87.38), (499.86±92.04)pg/ml, with statistically significant difference (F=13.309,P=0.003).The relative expressions of IL-10 in normal control, CINⅠ, CINⅡ-Ⅲ and SCC tissues were 0.99±0.01, 3.24±0.68, 7.32±0.99, 13.24±1.03, with statistically significant difference (F=21.694,P=0.000). The relative expressions of IL-18 in normal control, CINⅠ, CINⅡ-Ⅲ and SCC tissues were 0.98±0.01, 2.02±0.84, 7.01±1.59, 14.38±2.10, with statistically significant difference (F=19.912，P=0.001). The expressions of IL-10 and IL-18 were positively associated with HPV infection (r= 0.696,P=0.001;r=0.852,P=0.001). The median survival time of patients with high expressions of IL-10 was 9.74 months, which obviously shorter than those patients with low expressions of IL-10 (24.47 months), with statistically significant difference (χ²=21.363,P=0.001). The median survival time of patients with high expressions of IL-18 was 12.32 months, which obviously shorter than those patients with low expressions of IL-18 (22.88 months), with statistically significant difference (χ²=7.457,P=0.006). Conclusion High expressions of IL-10 and IL-18 are observed in patients with CIN and SCC, which can be used as biomarkers for predicting early cervical lesions.

Key words:Interleukins,Uterine cervical neoplasms,Precancerous conditions