Levels of chemokine receptors expressed on peripheral blood T lymphocytes of Egyptian patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

CC chemokine receptors (CCR) have an important role in the recruitment of leukocytes to the site of inflammation. The migration and metastasis of tumor cells shares many similarities with leukocyte trafficking, which is mainly regulated by chemokine receptor-ligand interactions. CCR1 and CCR5 are highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and tissues with unknown functions. In this study, we estimated the surface expression of chemokine receptors CCR1 and CCR5 on the lymphocytes of peripheral blood from patients with HCC in an attempt to identify their roles in tumorigenesis. The study was conducted on 52 patients of which, 24 of them with confirmed HCC and 28 with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. In addition, 20 apparently healthy controls with matched age and sex were also included in the study. All patient and control groups were subjected to the following: thorough history taking, clinical examination, abdominal ultrasonography and fine needle liver biopsy for patient's group when needed, complete blood count, liver function tests, viral markers for hepatitis B and C, serum alpha fetoprotein and flowcytometric detection of chemokine receptors CCR1 and CCR5 on peripheral blood T lymphocytes. The expression of chemokine receptors CCR1 and CCR5 on CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes was significantly less in HCC and hepatitis C patient groups as compared to control group. Moreover, a significant decrease in the levels of CCR1 and CCR5 on CD8+ T lymphocytes was detected in HCC patients compared to patients with chronic HCV; however, it was not statistically significant for CD4+ cells. Furthermore in HCC patients, levels of CCR1 and CCR5 were significantly less in patients with large tumor size than small sized tumor. Data obtained showing reduced surface expression of CCR1 and CCR5 on CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes reflect their possible role in altering the host's immune defense and disease pathogenesis, thus may be helpful for therapy design to ameliorate disease progression.