Changes of regulatory T cells in peripheral blood samples from patients with lung cancer and their correlation with clinicopathologic features of lung cancer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the changes of CD 4^＋CD25^＋CD127^low regulatory T （ Treg ） cells in peripheral blood samples from patients with lung cancer and their correlation with clinicopathologic features of lung cancer .Methods Flow cytometry was used to measure the percentages of CD 4, CD8, nat-ural killer （ NK） and Treg cells in peripheral blood samples collected from 160 patients with lung cancer and 60 healthy subjects .The correlations between the levels of Treg cells and clinicopathologic features of lung cancer were analyzed .The percentages of Treg cells in 60 patients with lung cancer before and after surgery were compared .Results The percentages of CD 4＋and NK cells and the ratios of CD 4＋/CD8＋cells in pa-tients with lung cancer were significantly lower than those in healthy control , while the percentages of Treg cells in patients with lung cancer were decreased as compared with those in healthy subjects .The percenta-ges of Treg cells in patients with advanced cancer were significantly higher than those in patients at early stage （P〈0.05）, which dropped significantly after surgery （P〈0.01）.Conclusion The results of this study indicated that Treg cells in patients with lung cancer might inhibit antitumor immune responses and correlate with the progression of cancer .It would be worthwhile to check Treg cells in patients with lung cancer for monitoring the prognosis and treatment effects . Key words: Regulatory T cells; Lung cancer; Flow cytometry; CD4^＋CD25^＋CD127^low