Abstract
Gastric Cancer (GC), a major cause of cancer-related mortality, is susceptible to invasion and metastasis, which triggers dismal prognosis. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) exerts a pivotal role in various cancers, including GC. Correct syndrome differentiation is the most important principle guiding the treatment strategy. Here in, the present study aims to explore the relationship of different TCM syndrome types of GC patients and the cellular immune function, which was evaluated by observing peripheral T-cell subsets and activity of Natural Killer (NK) cells. GC patients and healthy controls were enrolled in this study, with venous blood during fasting collected. Patients with deficiency syndromes exhibited decreased number of CD4+ T-cells, ratio of CD4+/CD8+ T-cells and the activity of NK cells as compared with those with sufficiency syndromes. Then, the relationship between TCM syndrome types and TNM classification was analyzed, which revealed that TCM syndrome types were associated with TNM classification. Finally, we evaluated the number of T-cell subsets and NK cell activity in peripheral blood by means of flow cytometry and Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay. GC patients with qi and blood deficiency showed reduced CD4+ T-cells, CD4+/CD8+ T-cells and NK cell activity and increased CD8+ T-cells when compared with other syndrome types, which indicated significantly impaired cellular immune function. Taken together, we concluded that peripheral T-cell subsets and NK cell activity, representing the cellular immune function, were associated with different TCM syndrome types of GC. Notably, qi and blood deficiency led to the most severe cellular immune dysfunction of the GC patients.
Highlights
Gastric cancer (GC) is a major cause of mortality in relation to cancer in the world due to its high occurrence and poor prognosis [1,2]
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Syndrome Types are Correlated with TNM Classification in GC
The recurrence and metastasis of GC are a critical cause of mortality, and TCM is a good option for the prevention and treatment, as well as improving the quality of life [18]
Summary
Gastric cancer (GC) is a major cause of mortality in relation to cancer in the world due to its high occurrence and poor prognosis [1,2]. Studies have suggested that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) functions as potential treatment options for GC [4,5]. Most of these studies focus on the effect of TCM on GC cell behaviors. TCM syndrome types of GC patients at different stages were analyzed. TCM syndrome differentiation, known as syndrome differentiation or Zheng differentiation, is the basic and core content of TCM theory on diagnosis and treatment of human diseases [6]. TCM syndrome plays an important role in the guidance to TCM treatments for its identification of human body patterns and its function on reflection of the nature of the pathological changes at different stages [8]
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