by Normal and Cancerous Human Ovarian Tissues: Possible Implication of IL-18 in the Pathogenesis of Ovarian Carcinoma

Copyright © 2014 Liat Medina et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Proinflammatory cytokine IL-18 has been shown to be elevated in the sera of ovarian carcinoma patients. The aim of the study was to examine the levels and cellular origin of IL-18, IL-18 binding protein, and IL-18 receptor in normal and cancerous ovarian tissues. Ovarian tissue samples were examined by immunohistochemical staining for IL-18, IL-18BP, and IL-18R and mRNA of these cytokines was analyzed with semiquantitative PT-PCR. IL-18 levels were significantly higher in cancerous ovarian tissues