Ishibashi Yasunori, Tanaka Shigebumi, Tajima Kohei, Yoshida Takeshi, Kuwano Hiroyuki
Department of General Surgical Science and 21st Century COE Program, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan.
Oncol Rep. 2006 May;15(5):1315-9.
Active suppression by CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells (T regs) plays an important role in the down-regulation of T cell responses to foreign and self-antigens. Thus far, the potential role of T regs in human tumors has been reported. T reg-mediated suppression of antitumor immune responses may partly explain the poor clinical response to vaccine-based immunotherapy for human cancer. The forkhead transcription factor Foxp3 is a critical regulator of T regs development and function. Foxp3 represents a specific marker for the T regs. In this study, we measured the Foxp3 mRNA expression in tumors and in normal tissues from 46 patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), and tumor tissues showed a significantly higher expression of Foxp3 mRNA than normal tissues. The expression of Foxp3 mRNA and the tumor diameter were inversely proportional. These results suggest that T regs expressing Foxp3 selectively accumulate in tumor tissues of NSCLC and contribute to antitumor immune dysfunction, especially in the early stages.
CD4+CD25+调节性T细胞（Tregs）的主动抑制在下调T细胞对外源和自身抗原的反应中起重要作用。迄今为止，Tregs在人类肿瘤中的潜在作用已有报道。Tregs介导的抗肿瘤免疫反应抑制可能部分解释了人类癌症基于疫苗的免疫治疗临床反应不佳的原因。叉头转录因子Foxp3是Tregs发育和功能的关键调节因子。Foxp3是Tregs的特异性标志物。在本研究中，我们检测了46例非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者肿瘤组织和正常组织中Foxp3 mRNA的表达，肿瘤组织中Foxp3 mRNA的表达明显高于正常组织。Foxp3 mRNA的表达与肿瘤直径呈负相关。这些结果表明，表达Foxp3的Tregs选择性地积聚在NSCLC肿瘤组织中，并导致抗肿瘤免疫功能障碍，尤其是在早期阶段。
