| Objective:To analyze the relationship between serum interleukin-33/growth stimulating expression gene 2 protein axis level and postoperative recurrence in patients with liver cancer. Methods:The 278 liver cancer patients who were admitted to our hospital between July 2019 and November 2022 were chosen, and based on whether recurrence happened 12 months after hepatectomy, the patients were divided into recurrence and non-recurrence groups. Preoperative serum IL-33 and ST2 levels, as well as clinical data, were compared between the two groups. The factors that influence postoperative recurrence in liver cancer patients were also analyzed, as was the usefulness of serum IL-33 and ST2 levels in predicting postoperative recurrence in liver cancer patients. Results:The serum levels of IL-33 and ST2 in recurrence group were higher than those in non-recurrence group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in gender, age, Child-Pugh classification, tumor cell differentiation, histopathological type, tumor size, tumor location, proportion of cirrhosis, proportion of drinking history and proportion of smoking history between recurrence group and the non-recurrence group (P>0.05). The proportion of portal vein tumor thrombus, preoperative serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level≥400ng/ml and lymph node metastasis in recurrence group were higher than those in non-recurrence group (P<0.05). Portal venous tumor thrombus, preoperative serum AFP level ≥400ng/ml, lymph node metastases, high serum IL-33 level, and elevated serum ST2 level were shown to be risk variables (OR>1, P<0.05) for postoperative recurrence of liver cancer patients in multivariate logistic regression analysis.The ROC curve showed that, the AUC of serum IL-33, ST2 and their combination in predicting postoperative recurrence of liver cancer patients were 0.712, 0.775 and 0.837, respectively, and the AUC of their combination was the highest. Conclusion: The up-regulation of serum IL-33/ST2 axis will increase the risk of postoperative recurrence in patients with liver cancer, and the combined detection of serum IL-33 and ST2 predicts a higher net benefit of postoperative recurrence in patients with liver cancer. |
