ABSTRACT
Breast cancer tissues and adjacent tissues were collected from 32 patients who were treated in The Third Hospital of Chengde City. Reverse transcriptionquantitative polymerase chain reaction results demonstrated that, compared with the adjacent tissues, interleukin (IL)23/IL23 receptor (R) gene expression levels were notably higher in breast cancer tissues. Furthermore, IL23 and IL23R expression levels were positively correlated with patients' tumor size, TNM stage and metastasis. Recombinant human (rh) IL23 (10 ng/ml) was used for the stimulation of the MCF7 cell line. Effects of rh IL23 (10 ng/ml) on cell proliferation was detected after MCF7 cells were incubated with rh IL23 for 48 h. Whether pretreatment with polyclonal antibody (PAb) IL23p19, a neutralizing antibody specific for IL23, may influence the effects of IL23 on cell behavior was also investigated. Cell proliferation assay and cell apoptosis assay were evaluated using MTT assay and flow cytometry assay, respectively. Results suggested that PAb IL23p19 reduced IL-23-induced cell proliferation whereas induced IL23 inhibited cell apoptosis. Western blot analysis was performed for the detection of molecules that may be responsible for the aforementioned changes. Results indicated that PAb IL23p19 treatment reduced IL23induced upregulation of Bcell lymphoma2 protein expression and activation of the janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 signaling pathway. The present results suggested that IL23 may be a potential prognosis marker and target for the treatment of breast cancer patients.
