Prognostic Value of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-α) in Egyptian Patients with Breast Cancer

The study was conducted on 41 females selected from National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Surgery Department. The patients were divided into two groups. Group I included 21 clinically established breast cancer patients in early stage (I or II) and Group II included 20 clinically established breast cancer patients in late stage (III or IV). Beside 20 healthy females were included as control group. The aim of the present work is to assess the prognostic value of pre and postoperative IL-6, TNF-α and to investigate the relationship between these parameters and the serum inflammatory parameter (ESR). The results showed that non-significant changes were found in the serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in early cases before and after surgery when compared to control group, while ESR value was significantly increased before and after surgery (p 0.01) and (p 0.05) respectively. Both IL-6 and TNF-α showed non-significant changes on comparing early cases group before and after surgery, while ESR values showed a significant decrease after surgery (p 0.01). In late cases, levels of IL-6, TNF-α and ESR were highly significantly increased before surgery, (p 0.001) for all parameters when compared to the control group. After surgery, this increase was still highly significant for IL-6, TNF-α and ESR (p 0.001, 0.01, 0.01) respectively when compared to controls. Comparing, TNF-α and ESR before and after surgery in group II, our results showed significant decrease (p 0.05) for both parameters. While IL-6 showed highly significant decrease (p 0.001). In conclusion, the preoperative serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and ESR significantly increased with advanced stages of breast cancer. So, IL-6 and TNF-α may be considered as promising additive prognostic parameter for breast cancer.