Therapeutic influence on circulating and monocyte-derived dendritic cells in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients.

CONCLUSION

Surgical resection of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) could be associated with improved circulating myeloid dendritic cell (mDC) number and monocyte-derived dentritic cell (MoDC) function. Although adjunctive radiotherapy after surgery did not effect the normalization of mDC number, it may have an impact on MoDC function.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effects of surgery and adjunctive radiotherapy on both circulating dendritic cells (DCs) and MoDCs of LSCC patients.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Forty-six patients with LSCC and 15 age-matched healthy control subjects were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were taken before, during, and after conventional treatment from both patients who underwent surgery only (n=18) and those who had adjunctive radiotherapy after tumor removal (n=28). Three-color flow cytometry was used for determination of circulating DC subsets. Moreover, MoDCs were generated utilizing granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4), then the phenotype of MoDCs was measured by flow cytometry and the ability to stimulate autologous T cells was tested in a mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR).

RESULTS

The preoperative mDC counts, MoDC surface molecular expression and stimulatory capacity were impaired in patients in comparison with controls. The number of mDCs and the expression of CD80, CD83, and HLA-DR on MoDCs were significantly increased as compared with those pretreatment in patients who underwent surgery only and in those who had surgery followed by adjunctive radiotherapy. However, the recovery of CD86 expression and allostimulatory activity was only observed in patients who underwent surgery alone.