A systematic review and meta-analysis of evaluation of serum interleukin 8 levels in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM OF THE STUDY: To estimate serum interleukin 8 (IL-8) level in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) compared to controls and patients with chronic hepatitis (CH) and liver cirrhosis (LC). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three databases, i.e. PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus, were searched up to November 2017 without language restriction. The mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used by a random-effects analysis in RevMan version 5.3, and sensitivity analysis was performed as the secondary analysis. RESULTS: Out of 239 studies found, 10 studies recruiting 659 HCC patients, 237 controls, 357 patients with LC, and 48 patients with CH were included and analyzed in the meta-analysis. The pooled MDs were 39.48 (95%CI: 152.31, 406.47, p < 0.00001), 21.32 (95% CI: –6.04, 48.68, p = 0.13), and 36.46 (95% CI: 21.77, 51.15, p < 0.00001) in the patients with HCC compared to the controls, the patients with LC and those with CH, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: An elevated serum IL-8 level in the HCC patients compared to the three other groups showed an increased risk for this cytokine in HCC patients. Therefore, this interleukin can be used as a new biomarker replacing alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) or as a clinical assay for evaluation of the pathogenesis and probably the progression or development of HCC.