الفهرس 
Histological types of lung cancerOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Backgrounds: Interleukin - 6 is found to be implicated in multiple types of cancers but few studies has investigated its role in lung cancer. Objectives: The aim of this study was to quantify IL-6 levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and in sera of all patients with lung cancer and non-malignant lung diseases included in this study and to evaluate its role as a diagnostic marker for lung cancer. Patients and Methods: This prospective analytic controlled case study was carried out in Chest Department, Tanta University Hospitals on 40 patients. The patients were classified into 2 groups: group I, included twenty patients diagnosed by histopathological examination as bronchogenic carcinoma, group II, included twenty patients who have non-malignant chronic lung diseases of known aetiology (Chronic infectious diseases, TB, pneumonia, lung abcess). Clinical assessment and demographic data, routine laboratory investigations were done to all patients. IL-6 expression was examined in BALF and serum using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: IL-6 was found to be present in higher levels in BALF and serum of lung cancer patients than those of the control group of non-malignant lung diseases. There was also a significant positive correlation between IL-6 in BALF and serum and advanced clinical stages of lung cancer. Also, there was a significant positive correlation between IL-6 level in BALF and serum in lung cancer patients. The sensitivity and specificity of IL-6 in BALF for identifying lung cancer were 95% and 90% respectively. Conclusion: Increased BALF IL-6 level was associated with advanced clinical stages of lung cancer and in a positive correlation with serum IL-6. High sensitivity and specificity of BALF IL-6 for detection of lung cancer indicated that it could be considered a molecular biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of lung cancer. Keywords: Lung cancer, BALF, IL-6, biomarker, diagnosis.