Interleukin-18 increases metastasis and immune escape of stomach cancer via the downregulation of CD70 and maintenance of CD44.

Cancer cells metastasize to the other site after escaping from the immune system and CD70, CD44 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) play important roles in this process. It is recently reported that interleukin (IL)-18 is closely related with the pathogenesis of skin tumor. Therefore, we investigated the role of endogenous IL-18 from stomach cancer on the immune escape mechanism and metastasis via the regulation of CD70, CD44 and VEGF expression.