Analysis of il-6 gene expression in nsclc patients

Maryam Ramezani,1,* Merat firouzinejhadshirazi,2 Fatemeh akbarian,3 Alireza razavi,4 Besharat rahimi,5 Ghasem ahangari,6

1. National Institute Of Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology
2. National Institute Of Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology
3. National Institute Of Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology
4. National Institute Of Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology
5. Advanced thoracic research center, imam khomeini hospital, tehran university of medical sciences
6. Neuroimmunopsychooncogenetic Group, Department of Medical Genetic, National Institute Of Genetic Engineering And Biotech

Abstract

Introduction

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death. lung cancers are generally divided into two major types, small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. non small cell cancer (nsclc) tends to grow less quickly than small cell cancer. the chances of curing non small lung cancer are greater if the cancer is diagnosed early. previous studies demonstrated a link between the changes of cytokines expression level and onset of several disorders. interlukin 6 (il-6), as a family of secretory proteins, take part in cell proliferation, differentiation, inflammatory reactions and angiogenesis. with regard to the mentioned effects of cytokines, this study examined changes in expression level of il-6 gene in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of nsclc patients.

Methods

The peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from the whole blood of 30 nsclc patients and 30 normal controls by ficoll-hypaque gradient method. after the extraction of rna from mononuclear cells, the cdna was synthesized from the concentration 500 ng/µl of rna. finally real- time pcr technique was performed by using primer pairs for il6 and β-actin as internal control genes.

Results

The outcome of this experiment shows that the relative expression of il-6 receptor gene increased significantly in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of nsclc patients (p<0.412).

Conclusion

As indicated by the result, il-6 gene is overexpressed in target group compared to normal controls. this gene is involved in physiological and pathological functions. accordingly, it can be concluded that the development of nsclc might be prevented by targeting and blocking this agent.

Keywords

Lung cancer, non small cell lung cancer, il-6, gene expression analysis