Dynamic changes in cytokine profiles and their impact on tumour recurrence following thermal ablation in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: Thermal ablation is widely accepted as a radical HCC therapy. However, the 5-year recurrence rate is high, and whether this local treatment induces a systemic immune response remains unclear. Herein, we investigated the effects of thermal ablation on HCC patients’ immune cytokine profiles and explored predictive biomarkers of tumour recurrence. Methods Twenty-two HCC patients were enrolled. We collected peripheral blood before ablation (baseline) and 5–7 days (week 1) and 28–30 days (week 4) after ablation and measured 27 cytokine/chemokine levels at the three time points. Dynamic changes in cytokine profiles and impacts on tumour recurrence were observed. Results We found that most cytokines/chemokines (12/27) in HCC patients at baseline were significantly decreased, while MCP-1 was elevated compared to that in healthy controls. IL-6 was significantly elevated at week 1 and decreased at week 4 after ablation, and there were positive correlations between IL-6 levels and ALT and WBC at week 1. IL-10 was slightly decreased at week 1 and dramatically decreased at week 4. The MCP-1, MIP-1β and TNF-α dynamics were similar (decreasing at week 1, increasing at week 4). IL-17, PDGF-BB and RANTES were significantly elevated at week 4 compared with baseline and week 1. We also found that patients with high levels of IL-10 at baseline and low levels of TNF-α, PDGF-BB and RANTES at week 4 were at risk of tumour recurrence. Conclusion Our results suggest that thermal ablation relieves tumour immune suppression and activates systemic immune responses by circulating cytokines linked to tumour recurrence.