Assessment of Serum Soluble Toll-like Receptor-4 and Interleukin-8 as Biomarkers in Patients with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Chemokines and toll-like receptors (TLR) have a synergistic role in the initiation and progression of breast cancer. TLR-4 is involved in the invasiveness of cancerous cells. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) has a significant role in boosting the angiogenesis and growth of cancer cells. Objective: To measure the level of soluble TLR-4 and interleukin-8 in patients with breast cancer and to study the possibility of using them as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in these patients. Methods: The study enrolled a total of 200 female subjects: 100 patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer and 100 healthy controls. Soluble TLR-4 and IL-8 levels in the blood were evaluated by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: upregulated levels of soluble TLR-4 as well as interleukin-8 in individuals with breast cancer compared to controls (5.79 vs. 1.01 ng/ml for TLR-4 and 29.1 vs. 7.1 pg/ml for IL-8). The concentration of soluble Toll-like receptor-4 besides interleukin-8 is significantly higher in stage IV than in other stages. A substantial increase in these biomarkers in grade 3 was detected compared to other grades. ROC curves show that both biomarkers were useful in differentiating between healthy females and those who have breast cancer. Conclusions: High concentrations of soluble TLR-4 as well as IL-8 have been linked to advanced stages of breast cancer, and these markers were effective in detecting the disease and predicting its prognosis.