Overexpression of interleukin‐35 in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma is a prognostic indicator after curative resection

摘要

Interleukin‐35 (IL‐35) is implicated in tumorigenesis, but its exact impact on intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is not clear. The aim of the present study was to explore the specific effect of IL‐35 on patient prognosis. Additionally, we formulated an effective prognostic nomogram for ICC patients after curative resection. Immunohistochemistry was applied to explore IL‐35 expression as well as IL‐35 receptor (IL‐35R) in 102 ICC patients. Results showed that IL‐35 was highly expressed in ICC tumor tissues and was positively associated with lymph node metastasis (LNM), TNM stage and vascular invasion and was an independent prognostic factor for patients' overall survival (OS) and recurrence‐free survival (RFS). High expression of IL‐35R (gp130 and IL‐12Rβ2) was also observed in style="fixed-case">ICC cancer tissues, but only gp130 was an independent prognostic factor for style="fixed-case">OS and style="fixed-case">RFS and was indispensable in style="fixed-case">IL‐35‐mediated style="fixed-case">ICC clinical prognosis. The nomogram comprising carcinoembryonic antigen, style="fixed-case">LNM, style="fixed-case"> IL‐35 and gp130 expression achieved better predictive accuracy compared with style="fixed-case">TNM stage for style="fixed-case">OS. Our data support that high style="fixed-case">IL‐35 expression correlates with style="fixed-case">ICC aggressiveness and emerges as a valuable biomarker for evaluating style="fixed-case">ICC progression and prognosis in clinical work.