Serum cytokines are promising biomarkers of cancer staging and outcome prediction, including response to treatment. Serum samples were collected from 200 breast carcinoma patients prior to chemotherapy treatment. Luminex liquid protein chip technology was used to analyze 25 cytokines in serum. Linear regression was used to analyze the relationship of cytokine levels and tumor size. The independent sample T-test and Chi-square test methods were used to analyze the difference of cytokine levels between two groups. IL-12p40, sIL-2R, MMP-2 levels showed linear correlation with tumor size. Eotaxin, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-7, IL-1ra, IP-10, MCP-1beta, MP-2 and MIP-1beta levels showed significant difference between different lymph node groups, but only Eotaxin, IP-10 and MCP-1 levels had an inverse correlation with the number of positive nodes. Fractalkine, G-CSF, MIP-1alpha, MIP-1beta levels showed significant differences between different ER+ groups. Eotaxin, Fractalkine, IL-6, IL-7, IL-10, MCP-1 and VEGF levels had significant differences between different HER-2 groups. Our study resulted in the identification of a serum cytokine profile with the potential to be clinically applicable to predict disease outcome and in monitoring of efficacy of treatment.

The present study investigated whether a concentration of serum thymidine kinase 1 (STK1p) could be used to distinguish between healthy individuals, patients with colorectal benign tumors and individuals with colorectal cancer (CRC). The effectiveness of surgery on patients with CRC was monitored. A total of 20 publications containing patients with CRC (n=1,836), patients with colorectal benign tumors (n=774) and healthy controls (n=1,701) were analysed in the present meta-analysis. The publications were collected from PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP and SinoMed databases from January 1, 2009 until August 31, 2019. Articles were analyzed according to sensitivity (Forest plot) and publication bias (Begg's plot, Egger's linear regression) using fixed or random effect models to calculate the weighted mean difference. Study quality was checked using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale Document Quality Assessment Scale. The meta-analysis followed the PRISMA statement. The results revealed that STK1p significantly distinguished healthy individuals and those with colorectal benign tumors from patients with CRC, and from patients with benign tumors (P<0.000001). STK1p levels also decreased by 40% following surgery (P<0.0001), which corresponded to half-life of ~1 month. The quality of the present study was high and no bias was identified among publication. It was concluded that STK1p was a reliable biomarker for the early detection of benign lesions, which may therefore prevent their future development into colorectal malignancies. STK1p may also be used for the clinical dynamic monitoring of the effectiveness of surgery in patients with CRC. Combining STK1p with colorectal-associated biomarkers, in addition to the determination of tumor stage and grade may therefore be of use.