Histophysiology study of interleukin-4 in thyroid cancer patients

Abstract

Introduction. Interleukins have promising prospects in the clinical treatment of cancer. Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is an anti-inflammatory cytokine with an immunosuppressive effect on antitumor activity by immune cells, but the mechanical action of IL-4 in thyroid cancer is unknown. Aim: to investigate the effect of IL-4 expression in thyroid cancer patients. Furthermore, to clarify the association between obesity and thyroid cancer. Material and methods. The present study was conducted on 115 subjects with thyroid nodules (36 with thyroid cancer and 79 with benign lesions) in Basrah, Iraq, from November 2019 to April 2022. To conduct a histophysiology study of IL-4. Results. There was a significant difference in serum IL-4 between the thyroid cancer and control subjects. A higher level of serum IL-4 was observed in the Hashimoto thyroiditis group. There was no significant difference in body mass index (BMI) between thyroid cancer and control subjects. The expression of tissue IL-4 in thyroid cancer patients was strong in 8 (22.22%) slides, moderate in 7 slides (19.44%), weak in 8 slides (22.22%), and negative in 13 slides (36.11%), while in the control group, it was strong in 7 (30.44%) slides, moderate in 8 slides (34.79%), weak in 5 slides (21.74%) and negative in 3 slides (13.03%). Conclusions. These findings indicate that serum levels of IL-4 may help diagnose thyroid cancer and identify patients with active disease who deserve closer medical attention. Furthermore, the secretion of IL-4 was systematic and not localized in thyroid cancer tissues. Obesity was not associated with a prevalence of thyroid cancer