Elevated Serum Level of IL-23 Correlates with Expression of VEGF in Human Colorectal Carcinoma

Ljujic, Biljana; Radosavljevic, Gordana; Jovanovic, Ivan; Pavlovic, Sladjana; Zdravkovic, Nemanja; Milovanovic, Marija; Acimovic, Ljubisa; Knezevic, Milan; Bankovic, Dragic; Zdravkovic, Dusica; Arsenijevic, Nebojsa

doi:10.1016/j.arcmed.2010.02.009

« Previous Next »Archives of Medical Research
Volume 41, Issue 3 , Pages 182-189, April 2010

Elevated Serum Level of IL-23 Correlates with Expression of VEGF in Human Colorectal Carcinoma

Biljana Ljujic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
- Address reprint requests to: Biljana T. Ljujic, MD, Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovica 69, 34 000 Kragujevac, Serbia; Phone: +38134306800; FAX: +38134306800 ext 112
Gordana Radosavljevic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Ivan Jovanovic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Sladjana Pavlovic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Nemanja Zdravkovic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Marija Milovanovic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Ljubisa Acimovic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Milan Knezevic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Dragic Bankovic
- Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Dusica Zdravkovic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Nebojsa Arsenijevic
- Center for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Serbia

Received 22 October 2009; accepted 29 January 2010. published online 22 March 2010.

(ARCMED-D-09-00518)

Background and Aims

Interleukin-23 (IL-23) has a role in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) as a condition of higher risk of colorectal carcinogenesis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is overexpressed in IBD and colorectal carcinoma. Therefore, we aimed at uncovering the relationship between serum level of IL-23 and expression of VEGF in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and to establish the relationship between VEGF and p53 and serum levels of IL-23, as well as its possible role in carcinogenesis of colorectal carcinomas.

Methods

Levels of IL-23 from serum samples of patients with colorectal carcinoma (n = 40) and healthy control samples (n = 37) were examined for IL-23-Ab using an ELISA assay. We also determined the expression of VEGF and p53 by immunohistochemistry in 59 cases of CRC.

Results

We found significantly higher serum levels of IL-23 in patients with CRC compared to control subjects (IL-23; mean 189.46 pg/mL vs. mean 34.77 pg/mL, p = 0.033). We also detected higher serum levels of IL-23 in patients with overexpressed VEGF (p = 0.028). Our results also showed that concomitant expression of VEGF and increased serum levels of IL-23 are in positive correlation with histological grade 2 (p <0.05).

Conclusions

Our data indicate that serum IL-23 levels are significantly elevated in CRC vs. control patients and are strongly associated with overexpression of VEGF, thus they may play an important role in carcinogenesis of CRC.

Key Words: IL-23, VEGF, p53, Colorectal carcinoma