Study the Expression of IL-18 gene in a sample of Iraqi women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) stimulates an immune response against cancer cells, which has an anti-tumor effect. Aim. To determine the gene expression and serum level of the IL-18 in the blood of women diagnosed with breast cancer. Methods. In this research, included of 100 blood samples, 70 from two groups of patients: 35 who were treated with chemotherapy and biology and 35 who were not, who were admitted to Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, as well as 30 of apparently healthy women as a third group. The age of the patient and control groups was matched. All samples were collected from September 2022 through August 2023. ELISA technique was used to measure the level of IL-18 in serum, and the qRT-PCR technique was used to estimate the gene expression of IL-18 after RNA extraction from whole blood. Results. It was observed that patient groups had significantly higher levels of IL-18 than the control group (p value = 0.001). The untreated group had a mean of 122.7223 ng/L, the treated group had a mean of 99.9609 ng/L, and the healthy control group had a mean of 93.4469 ng/L. The study found that breast cancer patients showed an overexpression in IL-18 expression compared to controls, with values of fold change 1.14 for the treated group, 1.67 for the untreated group, and 1.0 for the control. Conclusion. It was concluded both treated and untreated patients had higher levels of IL-18 sera and gene expression compared to the apparently healthy control group.

Keywords: IL-18, Breast Cancer, Gene Expression, RT-PCR, ELISA.