EVALUATION OF INTERLEUKIN-6 IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS B

Abstract

Background: Another significant risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is chronic hepatitis B (CHB), particularly in places where genetic testing is not widely available. The pathogenesis of HCC has been associated with inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), which enhances hepatocyte proliferation and decreases apoptosis. This research aimed to reveal the significance of serum IL-6 levels concerning the presence of HCC in CHB patients and prove the effectiveness of IL-6 as a non-invasive diagnostic marker in HCC.

Methods: A comparative study was carried out on a sample size of 70 in a tertiary care hospital. They were subdivided into two groups, including CHB patients with HCC (n = 50) and those without HCC (n = 20). Serum IL-6 was measured in fasting blood samples of the patients by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and in routine liver tests, including alpha fetoprotein (AFP). A structured proforma was used to record demographic and clinical information. Statistical analyses, including t-tests and Pearson correlation, were conducted with p < 0.05 as a significance criterion.

Results: The average levels of IL-6 were significantly lower in the control group than in patients with HCC (74.5 ± 18.3 vs 28.6 ± 9.4 pg/mL, p = <0.0001). A positive relationship of IL-6 was strongly correlated with a tumor (r = 0.61, p < 0.001) and AFP (r = 0.58, p = 0.002), but there was a lack of significant correlations with age or sex. Also, a moderate positive correlation was found with the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (r = 0.45, p = 0.01).

Conclusion: This study indicates that IL-6 can be used as a complementary biomarker to AFP for early screening and surveillance of HCC among CHB patients. Future surveillance strategies may be enhanced by the correction of IL-6 measurement in low-resource settings.