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A study on the CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies

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Abstract

Objectives Regulatory T cells play an active role in the maintenance of the immune system’s tolerance of both foreign and self antigens. Particularly, CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells participate in tumor immunity. The study provided further evidence on the involvement of CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells in immune system impairment in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. Methods Using flow cytometry, CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells were analyzed in peripheral blood from 114 patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and 15 healthy controls. Results The prevalence of the CD25 + subset in CD4 + T cells was increased in patients with colorectal carcinoma compared with healthy controls. The phenotic characteristics of the CD4 + CD25 + T cells in patient with malignancies were low expression of CD45 RA and no expression of CD69. Our results indicated that when compared with healthy control, the proportions of CD4 + CD25 + T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with colorectal, gastric, and esophageal carcinoma were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in colorectal carcinoma (22.11 ± 9.65%), gastric carcinoma (17.74 ± 4.24%), and esophageal carcinoma (24.37 ± 4.82)%, respectively. Further analysis on the proportion of CD4 + CD25 + T cells revealed that those patients with gastrointestinal malignancies in stages IV were higher than those of in stage I–III, though no significant difference was observed (P > 0.05). However, the proportion of CD4 + CD25 + T cells in the patients with relapse gastric carcinoma (23.32 ± 4.98%) was significantly higher than that of patients with primary gastric carcinoma (P < 0.01). Conclusions The increased CD4 + CD25 + T cells in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies may be related to immunosuppression and tumor progression. This suggests that elimination or reduction of CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells can improve effective tumor immunity for immunotherapy.

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  1. Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Xing Shi, Li Liu & Qian Din

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  1. Xing Shi
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  2. Li Liu
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  3. Qian Din
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Correspondence to Li Liu.

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Shi, X., Liu, L. & Din, Q. A study on the CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. Med Oncol 26, 471–475 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-008-9151-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-008-9151-2

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