Abstract: Objective  To investigate the correlation between serum interleukin-23 (IL-23), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and clinical prognosis in patients with cervical cancer. 
Methods  A total of 410 patients with cervical cancer treated in the hospital were selected as the research subjects. The baseline data of patients were investigated, and serum IL-23, VEGF and other related indicators were detected. The patients were followed up for 1 year. Recurrence was taken as the criterion of clinical prognosis. The correlation between the levels of serum IL-23 and VEGF and the clinical prognosis was analyzed by COX regression, and the ROC curve and decision-making curve were drawn to analyze the value of serum IL-23 and VEGF levels in predicting the clinical prognosis of patients. 
Results  At the end of the follow-up of 410 patients with cervical cancer, 62 cases recurred, and the recurrence rate was 15.12%. The levels of serum IL-23, VEGF, carbohydrate antigen (CA) 125 and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) in the poor prognosis group were higher than those in the good prognosis group, and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). There was no statistical significant difference between two groups in age, body mass index, pregnancy times, parity, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, pathological type, tumor diameter, hemoglobin (Hb), white blood cell count (WBC), red blood cell count (RBC) and platelet (PLT) levels (P＞0.05). COX regression analysis showed that the levels of serum SCC Ag, CA125, IL-23 and VEGF were related to the clinical prognosis of cervical cancer patients (P＜0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve revealed that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of serum IL-23 and VEGF level alone and in combination in predicting the clinical prognosis of cervical cancer patients was >0.7, showing certain predictive value, but combined prediction was of the highest value. The results of decision curve analysis showed that in the threshold probability interval of 0.1-0.45, 0.49-0.59 and 0.61-0.77, the net benefit rate of serum IL-23 and VEGF in combination to predict the clinical prognosis of cervical cancer was better than that of serum IL-23 and VEGF alone. 
Conclusion  The levels of serum IL-23 and VEGF are related with the clinical prognosis of patients with cervical cancer. 

Key words: uterine cervical neoplasms, interleukin-23, vascular endothelial growth factor A