High serum CCL18 predicts a poor prognosis in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Juncheng Wang; Yuexiang Qin; Gangcai Zhu; Donghai Huang; Ming Wei; Guo Li; Li She; Diekuo Zhang; Gang Wang; Xiyu Chen; Zhe Shen; Yuanzheng Qiu; Yunyun Wang; Haolei Tan; Pingqing Tan; Jie Chen; Xin Zhang; Yong Liu

doi:10.7150/jca.37515

High serum CCL18 predicts a poor prognosis in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

J Cancer. 2019 Nov 17;10(27):6910-6914. doi: 10.7150/jca.37515. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Juncheng Wang^{1

2}, Yuexiang Qin^{1

2

3}, Gangcai Zhu⁴, Donghai Huang^{1

2}, Ming Wei^{1

2}, Guo Li^{1

2}, Li She^{1

2}, Diekuo Zhang^{1

2}, Gang Wang^{1

2}, Xiyu Chen^{1

2}, Zhe Shen^{1

2}, Yuanzheng Qiu^{1

2}, Yunyun Wang^{1

2}, Haolei Tan⁵, Pingqing Tan⁵, Jie Chen⁵, Xin Zhang^{1

2}, Yong Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 87 Xiangya Road, Changsha, Hunan 410008, People's Republic of China.
² Otolaryngology Major Disease Research Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, 87 Xiangya Road, Changsha, Hunan 410008, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Health Management, the Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 138 Tongzipo Road, Changsha Hunan 410013, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan 410011, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Hunan Cancer Hospital, The Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Xiangya Medical School, Central South University, 283 Tongzipo Road, Changsha, Hunan 410013, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

CCL18 is a cytokine secreted by M2 type tumor associated macrophages, which frequently over-expressed in diverse human cancers. However, the clinical significance of serum CCL18 in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) remains unknown. In this study, serum CCL18 was initially quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 146 patients with LSCC, 25 patients with precancerous lesions and 72 healthy volunteers. In addition, the correlations between serum CCL18 and clinicopathological parameters were analyzed. Our data revealed that serum CCL18 was obviously increased in patients with LSCC. Moreover, serum CCL18 level was significantly associated with primary tumor site (Glottic vs Others), T classification (T1+T2 vs T3+T4), clinical stage (I+II vs III+IV) and lymph node metastasis (N0 vs N+). Survival analysis demonstrated that patients with high serum CCL18 displayed a shorter survival time than those in patients with low serum CCL18. Importantly, serum CCL18 level and clinical stage were independent prognostic factors in patients with LSCC. Taken together, serum CCL18 could be used as a promising biomarker in patients with LSCC.

Keywords: CCL18; LSCC; Prognosis; Tumor associated Macrophage..