Influence of Autologous and Homologous Blood Transfusion on Interleukins and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α in Peri-operative Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Objective: To explore the influence of different ways of blood transfusion on the expression levels of interleukins(IL) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) inperi-operative patients with esophageal cancer. Materials and
Methods: A total of 80 patients with esophageal cancer who underwent radical operations were selected asstudy patients and randomly divided into an observation group (treated with autologous blood transfusion) andcontrol group (with homologous blood transfusion). Changes of intra-operative indexes and peri-operative bloodindexes, from hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit value (Hct), to levels of inflammatory factors like interleukins-6(IL-6), IL-8, IL-10 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were compared.
Results: Operations for patients in bothgroups were successfully conducted, and no significant differences in mean surgical duration and intra-operativehemorrhage volume, fluid infusion volume and blood transfusion volume were detected (p>0.05). Compared withvalues before surgery, Hb and Hct levels decreased significantly while white blood cell count (WBC) increased1, 5 and 7 d after operation (p<0.05, p<0.01). In addition, WBC was apparently higher in observation groupthan in control group 5 and 7 d after operation (p<0.01). Compared with before surgery, in the observationgroup, levels of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 had no significant differences after operation (P>0.05), but TNF-α levelincreased y (p<0.01), whereas in control group, IL-6 level had no significant difference (p>0.05), IL-8 leveldecreased obviously (p<0.05), IL-10 level increased markedly first and then decreased gradually as time passedbut its level remained elevated (p<0.01), and TNF-α level increased first and then decreased, and there was nosignificant difference 7 d after operation (p>0.05).
Conclusions: Decreased IL-8 and increased IL-10 levels aretwo important reasons forimmunosuppression after homologous blood transfusion, whereas autologous bloodtransfusion can alleviate this while increasing the TNF-α level, which also has potential to improve anti-tumorimmunity in the human body.