口腔癌(oral cancer)在世界各地是一種日益嚴重的惡性腫瘤疾病。在台灣,根據2013年衛生福利部公布的統計數據顯示,口腔癌發生率近十年來成長約200%,位居男性癌症死亡原因第四位。介白質素-23 (interleukin-23,IL-23),被認為能促進發炎反應,也有研究指出在癌症發展過程中,IL-23是腫瘤細胞生成因素之一。另外,IL-23 receptor (IL-23R)基因多型性和發炎性疾病及自體免疫性疾病有關。目前,IL-23和IL-23R基因多型性與口腔癌之間研究還不清楚。因此,本實驗的目的想要探討IL-23 (rs3212227)和IL-23R (rs10889677)兩者基因多型性和口腔癌易感性及其臨床病理參數,包括臨床分期、腫瘤大小、淋巴結轉移、細胞分化狀態等可能潛在相關性。本實驗利用聚合酶連鎖反應限制片段長度多型性分析(PCR-RFLP)方法,針對240位健康對照組與240位口腔癌患者,觀察其IL-23和IL-23R基因多型性,評估與口腔癌的罹患易感性。經與健康對照組的受試者比對後發現,IL-23R(rs10889677)攜帶有C對偶基因頻率和口腔癌發生率有關(p=0.012),基因型A/C或C/C的人比基因型A/A的人有1.553倍的機率罹患口腔癌(95% CI=1.073-2.241);在口腔癌的患者中,IL-23R (rs10889677)攜帶有C對偶基因(A/C或C/C),造成口腔癌細胞淋巴結轉移機率是攜帶A/A基因型的1.931倍(95% CI=1.109-3.360)。因此,本篇研究認為,IL-23R基因多型性,攜帶C對偶基因頻率與台灣人族群罹患口腔癌的易感性有關,可視為口腔癌的發生及癌細胞淋巴結轉移的可能因子。
Oral cancer is a growing problem of malignant disease worldwide and is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in male in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to examine the potential association of interleukin-23 (IL-23)and IL-23R polymorphisms with the susceptibility and clinicopathological status of oral cancer. A total of 480 subjects, including 240 controls and 240 patients with oral cancer, were recruited in this study and subjected to polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis to estimate the impact of these two polymorphisms variants. This experimental evidence shows that individuals with at least 1 varied C allele of rs10889677 (IL-23R polymorphism) had a 1.553-fold risk (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.073-2.241) of developing oral cancer compared to patients with the wild-type A/A homozygote. Oral cancer patients with at least 1 varied C allele of rs10889677 had a 1.931-fold risk of tumor lymph node metastasis compared to patients with the C/C homozygote. In conclusions, the varied C allele of the IL-23R gene may be considered a factor contributing to increased susceptibility, and may be a predictive factor for tumor lymph node metastasis in Taiwanese with oral cancer.