Abstract:

Objective To investigate the expression level of interleukin ⁃38（IL ⁃38）in serum and renal cancer tissues of patients with renal cell carcinoma and its clinical significance. Methods ELISA was used to detect the expression level of IL ⁃38 in serum of renal carcinoma group and healthy control group. The expression levels of Th17 cells and Treg cells in peripheral blood of the two groups were detected by flow cytometry. The expression level of IL⁃38 mRNA in tumor and adjacent tissues of patients with renal carcinoma was detected by real⁃time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Results The serum IL⁃38 level in renal carcinoma group was lower than that in control group，and correlated with tumor stage，lymph node metastasis，Fuhrman grade and tumor size，the difference was statistically significant（P < 0.001）. ROC curve analysis showed that when serum IL⁃38 was 150.65 pg/mL，the area under the curve was 0.863，the sensitivity was 71.7%，and the specificity was 87.2%. Il⁃38 mRNA expression in renal carcinoma tissues of different stages was lower than that in adjacent tissues，the difference was statistically significant（P < 0.001）. The expression level of Treg cells in peripheral blood of renal carcinoma group was lower than that of control group，and Th17 cells were higher than that of control group，the differences were statistically significant（P < 0.001）. The expression levels of serum IL⁃38 and peripheral blood Treg cells in patients with renal cancer were higher than those before surgery，and the expression levels of peripheral blood Th17 cells were lower after surgery，with statistical significance（P < 0.05）. Conclusion IL⁃38 is low expression in renal carcinoma，and its expression level is closely related to clinical stage and pathological grade，which is expected to be a new biomarker for predicting the occurrence and prognosis of renal carcinoma. 

Key words:

renal cell carcinoma, interleukin 38, Treg cells, Th17 cells, clinicopathological features