Journal of Southern Medical University

Journal of Southern Medical University ›› 2023, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (12): 2111-2117.doi: 10.12122/j.issn.1673-4254.2023.12.16

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Expression of interleukin-34 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma and its clinical implications

ZHANG Weijian, ZOU Zhuoyue, ZHU Yongna, WANG Min, MA Caiyun, WU Junjie, SHI Xin, LIU Xi   

  1. Department of Stomatology, Second Affiliated Hospital ,Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu 233040, China; Department of stomatology, Bengbu Medical College, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, School of Life Sciences, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu 233030, China
  • Online:2023-12-20 Published:2023-12-29

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Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of interleukin-34 (IL-34) in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) and its clinical implications. Methods Serum IL-34 level was detected in 36 patients with TSCC and 36 healthy individuals using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expressions of IL-34 mRNA and protein levels in TSCC and adjacent tissues were examined in 41 patients using real- time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC), and their correlation with the clinicopathological features of the patients was further analyzed. Informatic analysis of the differentially expressed genes related with IL-34 in TSCC was carried out based on String database, LinkedOmics database and GEO database, and GO functional analysis and KEGG signaling pathway enrichment analysis were performed using Webgestalt database. Results The serum level of IL-34 was significantly lower in TSCC patients than in the healthy individuals (P<0.001), and its expression level was also significantly lower in the tumor tissues than in the adjacent tissues (P<0.001). The expression level of IL-34 in TSCC tissues was related with lymph node metastasis and TNM staging (P<0.05), but not with age, gender, smoking, drinking, or tumor size (P>0.05). Informatic analysis suggested that IL-34 had the strongest correlation with CSF1R and PTPRJ. IL-34 and its related genes in TSCC were enriched mainly in bone marrow cell differentiation, collagen-containing extracellular matrix, and cytokine binding and signal receptor activator activity. KEGG signaling pathway enrichment showed that IL-34 and the related differentially expressed genes were involved mainly in osteoclast differentiation, protein polysaccharide in cancer, and the MAPK signaling pathway. Conclusion IL-34 is lowly expressed in TSCC and participates in the occurrence and progression of TSCC, and can be potentially used as a new diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for TSCC.

Key words: tongue squamous cell carcinoma; interleukin-34; tumor microenvironment; bioinformatics