Expression of interleukin-17 and its clinical significance in gastric cancer patients.

To investigate the expression of interleukin 17 (IL-17) in serum and tumor tissues, and evaluate the correlation between IL-17 and clinical characteristics from patients with gastric cancer. From January 2009 to January 2010, total 50 patients with gastric cancer and 50 healthy controls were enrolled. The patients included 32 males and 18 females with average age of (62.05 ± 11.98) years. The concentration of serum IL-17 was detected by ELISA. Intratumoral IL-17 expression and microvessel density (MVD) were examined by immunohistochemical staining. Compared with healthy controls, patients with gastric cancer had higher levels of IL-17 in serum (p < 0.01) and cancer tissues. High expression of IL-17 was associated with high MVD (p < 0.01). IL-17 in cancer tissues was associated with the clinical stage of the tumors (p < 0.01) and lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). No statistically significant correlation between the serum IL-17 and the clinical pathological features was found. Increased expression of IL-17 was seen in patient with gastric cancer. IL-17 may be involved in the progression of gastric cancer by promoting angiogenesis in tumor microenvironment.