Abstract:

Objective To investigate the prognostic roles of interleukin（IL）-6 and cartilage glycoprotein 39（YKL-40） for evaluating all-cause mortality in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma（HNSCC）. Methods The data from 130 patients with HNSCC were analyzed. Serum IL-6 and YKL-40 were determined. All the patients were followed up,and the primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was used to determine the optimal cut-off values for the prognosis of HNSCC patients by IL-6 and YKL-40. Kaplan-Meier curve was used to analyze the survival of HNSCC patients. Cox proportional hazard model was used to determine risk factors for overall survival in patients with HNSCC. Results The optimal cut-off values of IL-6 and YKL-40 were 19.8 pg/mL and 119 μg/L. Compared with IL-6≤19.8 pg/mL,patients in IL-6>19.8 pg/mL had increased proportions of stage Ⅲ and Ⅳ in TNM classification（P<0.05）. There was no statistical significance for sex,age,tumor location and treatment method between the 2 groups （P>0.05）. Increased age and proportions of stage Ⅲ and Ⅳ were also noticed in YKL-40>119 μg/L group as compared with those in YKL-40≤119 μg/L group（P<0.05）. There was no statistical significance in sex,tumor location and treatment method between the 2 groups （P>0.05）. Survival analysis indicated that patients in IL-6>19.8 pg/mL group and YKL-40>119 μg/L group had reduced median survival time as compared with those in IL-6≤19.8 pg/mL group（P<0.001） and YKL-40≤119 μg/L group（P=0.002）. Cox regression analysis showed that TNM classification [hazard ratio（HR）=2.65,95% confidence interval（CI） 1.64-5.64],IL-6（HR=1.78,95%CI 1.43-3.07） and YKL-40（HR=1.69,95%CI 1.28-2.10）were risk factors for overall survival in patients with HNSCC. Conclusions IL-6 and YKL-40 are related to the prognosis of HNSCC patients,and the combined determination can be used in evaluating patients' prognosis.

Key words: Interleukin-6, Cartilage glycoprotein 39, Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, Prognosis