Interleukin-17 Expression in the Barrett’s Metaplasia-Dysplasia-Adenocarcinoma Sequence

Abstract EN

Introduction.

This pilot study evaluated the expression of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-17 along the Barrett’s metaplasia-dysplasia-adenocarcinoma sequence by establishing the expression levels of IL-17 in columnar epithelium, intestinal metaplastic cells, and dysplastic/glandular neoplastic cells.

Immunohistochemical techniques were used to examine the accumulation of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-17 in forty (n=40) formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded oesophageal archived specimens across a range of endoscopic diagnostic categories, and a highly significant difference was found, where P≤0.001, in IL-17 expression (Kruskall Wallis and Mann-Whitney U) between all the cell types examined.

There was also a strong positive correlation (Spearman's rank correlation) between disease progression and IL-17 expression (rs=0.883, P<0.001, n=29), IL-17 expression was absent or absent/weak in columnar epithelium, weak to moderate in columnar metaplastic cells, and moderate to strong in dysplastic/neoplastic cells, which demonstrated that the elevation of IL-17 expression occurs in the progression of the disease.

Understanding the differential expression of IL-17 between benign and malignant tissue potentially has a significant diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic value.

Ultimately, this selective biomarker may be employed in routine clinical practice for the screening of oesophageal adenocarcinoma.