Evaluation of interferon gamma (İFNγ), tumor necrosis factor alfa (YNF-α), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-SCF), interferon gamma inducible protein 10 (IP-10), monocyte chemotactic protein-3 (MCP-3), interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung before and after treatment and effect on prognosis.

Lung cancer is the most important cause of cancer-related deaths in women and men worldwide. Understanding the molecular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of lung cancer may allow the development of new treatments for squamous cell lung cancer. In the last 10 years, chemotherapy has been replaced by immunotherapy and targeted therapies in cancer treatment. Inflammatory biomarkers can be used to monitor lung cancer progression. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of IFNγ, TNF-Alpha, GM-CSF, IFNγ Inducible Protein-10, Monocyte Chemotactic Protein-3, IL-6 levels before and after treatment in squamous cell lung cancer and its effect on prognosis. Eighty patients with advanced or metastatic stage who had not previously received chemotherapy were evaluated. Cytokine levels were planned to be measured in blood samples taken from eighty patients before treatment and at the third month of platinum-based chemotherapy treatment. However, 50 of 80 patients completed chemotherapy treatment, 50 patients were able to take blood after treatment. Cytokine levels were evaluated by ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS software. The pre-treatment and post-treatment cytokine levels of the patients showed a significant difference between IFNγ, IP-10, MCP-3, GM-CSF levels before and after treatment (p <0.001). There was no statistically significant relationship between cytokine levels and chemotherapy response. When cytokine levels and stage were compared before and after treatment; IFNγ, IP-10 and GM-CSF levels were significantly different in the local advanced and metastatic groups in the pre-treatment period (p values 0.018; 0.006; 0.004, respectively). After treatment, only statistically significant difference was found in MCP-3 levels (p value 0.03). ECOG performance status of the patients were grouped as 0-1 and 2-3; when the cytokine levels between groups were examined, a statistically significant relationship was found between the two ECOG groups in the pretreatment group. There was no statistically significant relationship between the groups after treatment. When the survival of the patients was evaluated, it was found that 10 patients died in a 1-year follow-up, but no statistically significant difference was found between the nonsurviving group and the surviving group when cytokine levels were evaluated. In conclusion, we investigated the effect of IFNγ, TNF Alpha, GM-CSF, IFNγ Inducible Protein 10, Monocyte Chemotactic Protein 3, IL-6 levels on the prognosis of squamous cell lung cancer, when cytokine levels and survival were compared before and after treatment there was no statistically significant relationship between cytokine levels and survival. However, further studies are needed to investigate the potential effects of these complex cytokines.