Interleukin-6 Expression in Colorectal Tumors in Iraqi Patients

ABSTRACT

Background: Colorectal cancer ranks as the 7th most common cancer among Iraqis. This task intended to check out the tissue level of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in colorectal tumors using IL-6 specific antibodies and Immunohistochemistry (IHC). Methods: IHC staining was performed using Interleukin-6 (IL6) specific antibodies. Tissue samples included 50 cases of colorectal cancer, 8 cases of colon adenomas in addition to 20 samples of normal colon tissues as a control. Results: Total 39 out of 50 colorectal cancer cases (78%) demonstrated positive expression of IL-6 specific antibody. While only 2 out of 8 adenomas (25%) exhibited positive outcome when stained with this marker, comparing to 20 normal colon tissue samples which revealed a negative expression of IL-6. Results disclosed significant association between IL-6 expression and clinicopathological traits including age, sex as well as tumor stage and grade. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that IL-6 might be a valuable indicator for predicting the prognosis for patients with colorectal cancer and might act as a future therapeutic approach in colorectal cancer.