Ling Yang, Fan Lieying, Dong Chunlei, Zhu Jing, Liu Yongping, Ni Yan, Zhu Changtai, Zhang Changsong
Laboratory of Clinical Oncology, Changzhou Tumor Hospital, Medical College of Soochow University, Jiangsu;
Exp Ther Med. 2010 Jan;1(1):113-120. doi: 10.3892/etm_00000020. Epub 2010 Jan 1.
The aim of this study was to investigate possible differences in cellular immunity between chemo- and/or radiotherapy groups during a long interval after surgery in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients. Cellular immunity was assessed as peripheral lymphocyte subsets in response to chemotherapy (CT), radiotherapy (RT) and CT+RT by flow cytometric analysis. There were 139 blood samples obtained at different time points relative to surgery from 73 patients with ESCC. The changes in the absolute and relative proportions of lymphocyte phenotypes were significant among the adjuvant therapy groups. There were significant differences in the absolute counts of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells among the interval groups, and a lower CD4/CD8 ratio was found in patients following a prolonged interval. RT alone had a profound effect on the absolute counts of CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells compared with the other groups. CD4(+) T cells exhibited a decreasing trend during a long interval, leading to a prolonged T-cell imbalance after surgery. Univariate analysis revealed that the interaction of the type of adjuvant therapy and the interval after surgery was correlated only with the percentage of CD4(+) T cells. The percentage of CD4(+) T cells can be used as an indicator of the cellular immunity after surgery in ESCC patients. However, natural killer cells consistently remained suppressed in ESCC patients following adjuvant therapy after surgery. These findings confirm an interaction between adjuvant therapy and the interval after surgery on peripheral CD4(+) T cells, and implies that adjuvant therapy may have selective influence on the cellular immunity of ESCC patients after surgery.
本研究旨在调查食管鳞状细胞癌（ESCC）患者术后较长时间内化疗和/或放疗组之间细胞免疫的可能差异。通过流式细胞术分析，将细胞免疫评估为外周淋巴细胞亚群对化疗（CT）、放疗（RT）和CT+RT的反应。从73例ESCC患者中获取了139份相对于手术不同时间点的血样。辅助治疗组之间淋巴细胞表型的绝对和相对比例变化显著。各时间间隔组之间CD4(+)和CD8(+) T细胞的绝对计数存在显著差异，且间隔时间延长的患者CD4/CD8比值较低。与其他组相比，单纯放疗对CD3(+)、CD4(+)和CD8(+) T细胞的绝对计数有深远影响。在较长时间间隔内，CD4(+) T细胞呈下降趋势，导致术后T细胞失衡持续时间延长。单因素分析显示，辅助治疗类型与术后时间间隔的相互作用仅与CD4(+) T细胞百分比相关。CD4(+) T细胞百分比可作为ESCC患者术后细胞免疫的指标。然而，ESCC患者术后辅助治疗后自然杀伤细胞一直处于抑制状态。这些发现证实了辅助治疗与术后时间间隔对外周CD4(+) T细胞的相互作用，并表明辅助治疗可能对ESCC患者术后的细胞免疫有选择性影响。
