Table 7.

Comparison of serum cytokine levels before radiotherapy, and after 21 d and 42 d of radiotherapy (x̅ ± sd)

Time	Group	TGF-β1 (ng/mL)	IL-6 (ng/L)	CRP (ng/L)
Before radiotherapy	Control group (n=46)	15.65±3.32	18.63±3.12	21.69±5.25
	Test group (n=51)	14.49±2.98	19.68±2.96	22.39±4.15
	t	1.814	1.700	0.732
	P	0.073	0.092	0.466
After 21 d of radiotherapy	Control group (n=46)	11.25±2.74***	15.98±2.18***	17.11±4.36***
	Test group (n=51)	9.02±2.19***	12.02±3.32***	13.39±5.28***
	t	4.448	6.863	3.760
	P	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
After 42 d of radiotherapy	Control group (n=46)	8.19±1.65***,###	11.98±2.38***,###	13.84±5.84***,###
	Test group (n=51)	6.63±1.02***,###	9.02±1.74***,###	9.63±3.38***,###
	t	5.660	7.039	4.440
	P	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001

Note: Paired t-test was used for the comparison in the same group before radiotherapy;

^***P<0.001.

Paired t-test was used for the comparison in the same group after 21 d of radiotherapy;

^###P<0.001.

CRP: C-reactive protein.