Indices of insulin-like growth factors family in the lung tissue of patients with non-small cell lung cancer after COVID-19 of various severity

Purpose of the study. An analysis of levels of IGF and their carrying proteins in lung tissues of cancer patients depending on the severity of the previous COVID-19 infection.

Patients and methods. The study included 60 patients with histologically verified non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) T1–3NхM0 receiving treatment at the Thoracic Department, National Medical Research Centre for Oncology, in 2020–2021. The control group included 30 NSCLC patients after asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 disease (15 males and 15 females); the main group included 30 (15 men and 15 women) patients after severe or moderate to severe COVID-19 infection. The mean age of patients was 59.11 ± 2.89 years; no significant differences were noted between the control and main groups. All participants gave their informed consent prior to the study approved by the Ethics Committee of National Medical Research Centre for Oncology. Qualitative assessment of IGF-I, IGF-II and IGFBP-1,2,3 levels in the tissues of the tumor, peritumoral area and resection line were measured by ELISA (Mediagnost, Germany). The statistical analysis was performed in the Statistica 10 program, the differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.

Results. Regardless of the gender, levels of IGF-I and IGF-II in tumor and resection line samples in patients of the main group were higher than in the control group on average by 1.5–2.2 times, and IGFBP-1 in the tumor was lower by 1.3 times in men and by 5 times in women. The ratio of IGF and IGFBP-1-3 in patients of the control group in perifocal tissues changed towards the parameters in the tumor tissue. IGF/IGFBP-1-3 in men of the main group were lower or did not differ from the indices in the intact tissue, while in women they increased, similarly to the tumor tissue.

Conclusion. An increase in the ratio of IGF and carrier proteins in the tumor tissue of patients in the main group indicated an excessive accumulation of IGF in it, which may contribute to more aggressive growth of malignant tumors. The most pronounced disorders in the system of insulin-like growth factors were found in the tissues of the tumor and intact lung of patients with previous severe and moderate to severe COVID-19.

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