Cytokine gene variants and treatment outcome of cisplatin-based concomitant chemoradiotherapy in cervical cancer

ABSTRACT

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women after breast cancer. Its standard treatment is cisplatin-based concomitant chemoradiotherapy. Chronic inflammation in uterine cervix triggers both pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways. The unpredictability in toxicity and efficacy of treatment is a major challenge. We hypothesized a link between IL-1, IL-6 and TNF gene variants and treatment response.

Material & Methods: We genotyped 246 cervical cancer cases and 246 controls by PCR, PCR-RFLP and ARMS-PCR. Treatment and response were evaluated by RECIST criteria. Chemotherapy and radiation doses were same for all patients, whilst 48 were followed-up for 36 months after treatment.

Results: SNPs in IL-1RN, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNFα were linked with cervical cancer. Cases with certain allele combinations in IL-1RN, IL-1β, IL-6(-597A/G) and TNF-α showed odds ratios (95% CI) of up to 17.54 (2.7–24.08) for the presence of cervical cancer. Variant IL-1β (-511T/C) was linked to vital status but none were linked to overall survival.

Conclusion: Certain cytokine gene variants may help detect susceptibility to cervical cancer and predict response to chemoradiotherapy.

KEYWORDS:

• Cytokine gene variants
• cervical cancer
• genotypic analysis
• chemo radiation therapy (CRT)
• treatment outcome

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India, and Centre of Excellence, Higher Education, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, India, for funding the work. ASK and MKG are thankful to ICMR for Senior Research Fellowships. The departmental equipment facility provided by UGC-SAP and DST-FIST-PURSE, New Delhi is duly acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ICMR, New Delhi [45/09/2019-HUM/BMS].