Pro-inflammatory TNF-α released by host and tumor cells is an important factor involved in initiation, BI-D1870 mw proliferation, angiogenesis as well as metastasis of various cancer types [51]. Activities of TNF-α are mediated

through TNFR-I and TNFR-II [52]. Our results showed that levels of sTNFR-II were elevated in patients with PNALT, CLD and HCC with a significant difference between HCC in relation to the other two groups (p < 0.001). These results are in agreement with previous published results [13, 29, 53], where it was found that sTNFR-IIα were closely correlated with disease progression in Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor chronic HCV infection. Enhanced TNF-α and TNFRs in chronic HCV infection may reflect the histological activity of the disease and TNFRs up-regulation might modify host response and potentially contribute to liver damage [54]. IL-2 is a cytokine produced by T cells in response to inflammatory stimuli. It induces the surface expression of IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) and, consequently, the production of its soluble form, sIL-2R. VRT752271 solubility dmso The excess of sIL-2R is capable of binding IL-2 and causes the inhibition of an appropriate immune response. IL-2R is the protein that mediates the action of IL-2, which is normally not displayed at a significant number on T and B cell surfaces. Stimulation of the immune system causes two IL-2R changes: more molecules

of “”IL-2R”" expressed on the cell plasma membrane and sIL-2Rα is released by the activated cells into the surrounding fluid [55]. Our results showed that levels of IL-2Rα were elevated in all studied patients with a statistically significant difference Immune system in HCC patients when compared to those with PNALT (p = 0.001). This could be attributed to the binding of IL-2 due to excess of its receptor and thus inducing an inhibition of the appropriate immune response with subsequent progression of chronic liver disease and the development of HCC. Previous results [13, 17, 56] are in agreement with ours, where it is was shown that serum levels of sIL-2R are correlated with the histological severity of liver damage

in HCV patients, which may be used as a marker in patients at high risk of getting HCC as the highest levels of soluble IL-2R occurred in those patients. The sIL-2R may be an important marker for assessing the phase of active chronic hepatitis and the degree of liver damage [57]. High sIL-2R levels, found in patients with chronic HBV [58, 59], were related to the activity of the disease rather than to the virus replication; thus, those levels may be a useful marker of T-cells immune response. In contrast to our results, it was concluded that IL-2R was not detectable in HCC patients in comparison to patients with chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis [60]. Regarding the levels of IL-2R in patients with HCC, and in agreement with our findings, there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.62) between its values in men and women [55].