INTERLEUKIN 8 AND GRANULOCYTE MACROPHAGE COLONY STIMULATING FACTOR IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma is becoming one of the most frequent forms of cancer through the world with particular high rates observed in •Asia, Africa and South Pacific (Beasley et al., 1981). In Egypt, Mokhtar (1990) reported that the incidence of HCC was 3.7% of the total number of malignant cases received at the pathology department, NCI, Cairo University in the period (1985-1987). IL-8 and GM-CSF are important mediators of inflammation and immune response in human diseases. In particular situations IL-8 and GM-CSF are produced excessively by immunoregulatory cells and it may be released in the circulation (Al-Wabel et al., 1995). The aim of this work is to detect the levels ofiL-8 and GM-CSF in hepatocellular carcinoma patients and study the role of these cytokines in the pathophysiological process of the disease. In this study, two groups were tested, one patient group and one control group, the patient group includes (27) cases with definite diagnosis of HCC. The control group included (10) persons who were completely normal healthy persons with no history of liver diseases, and were egative for serum HBsAg and HCV Ab. Sera of these groups were examined for measurement of IL-8 and GM-CSF level by ELISA technique after routine haematological examination and liver function tests.