Interleukin-6 and insulin-like growth factor-1 synergistically promote the progression of NSCLC

Abstract

The signaling pathways of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) play an important role in the progression of lung cancer, and this study aimed to explore whether they can synergistically promote the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We found that IL-6, glycoprotein 130 (GP130), IGF-1 and IGF-1R were highly expressed in NSCLC (p = .000), and there was the correlation between GP130, IGF-1, and IGF-1R (p < .01). The overall survival of patients with the co-expression of GP130 and IGF-1R was significantly shorter (p = .0360). Co-stimulation of IL-6 and IGF-1 resulted in significantly enhanced in cell proliferation, (p < .05), invasion (p < .05), cycle (p < .05), apoptosis (p < .05), and the expression of signal molecules (GP130, IGF-1R, p-AKT, and p-ERK1/2) (all p < .05) in NSCLC cells. This experiment revealed that IL-6 and IGF-1 can synergistically promote the progression of NSCLC. The high expression of GP130 and IGF-1R is an independent risk factor for poor prognosis patients, and it is helpful to find a more accurate target for targeted therapy in NSCLC.

Keywords:

• Non-small cell lung cancer
• Interleukin-6
• insulin-like growth factor 1
• signaling pathways
• tissue microarray-immunohistochemistry

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the reviewers for their helpful comments on the report.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by grants from the Doctoral Science Foundation of Wuhan Central Hospital [Grant No. YB16A05], and the Wuhan City Planning Commission of China [Grant No. WX17Q05].