BACKGROUND: This study was to analyze the levels of Th1, Th2 and Th17 cytokines in peripheral blood samples from ovarian cancer (OC) patients. METHODS: Ninty-five OC patients including 45 OC and 50 benign ovarian disease (BOD) were selected at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital from October 2021 to March 2022
46 healthy participants were simultaneously selected at Taizhou Municipal Hospital as healthy controls (HC). The expressions of Th1, Th2 and Th17 were compared in all participants. Marker levels were analyzed with age, histological type, tumor size, ovarian number and clinical stage of OC. RESULTS: The IL6 and IL8 levels were significantly higher in OC compared to BOD and HC (p <
0.00). The IL-4 expression was significantly higher in OC compared to HC (p <
0.00). The expressions of IL2, IL6 and IL10 were significantly higher in pathological stage III-IV OC compared with pathological stage I-II OC (p <
0.05). Meanwhile, the levels of IL-2 and IL-10 were significantly higher in OC with bilateral ovaries than in OC with single ovary (p <
0.05). AUCs of different markers were to diagnose OC. The findings also implied that the expressions of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 were significantly different between OC and control groups (p <
0.05), while the levels of IL-2, IL-4, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-12p70, IL-1β and IL-5 between the two groups were not different (p >
0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In peripheral blood from OC patients, the immune system was more dysregulated and immune cells produced more cytokines with contrasting actions. These data showed significant clinical implications for the diagnosis of OC.