Department of Histology and Embryology, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
PLoS One. 2013 Sep 5;8(9):e74430. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074430. eCollection 2013.
The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of chemokine receptor CCR7 expression and intratumoral FOXP3(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) in gastric cancer. CCR7(+) tumor cells and FOXP3(+) Tregs were assessed by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays containing gastric cancer from 133 patients. Prognostic effects of low or high CCR7 and FOXP3 expression were evaluated by Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis, as well as the correlation between CCR7 positive score and intratumoral FOXP3(+) cell number in a longitudinal assessment. The analysis showed that the high expression levels of CCR7 and FOXP3 were detected in 69.9% and 65.4% of cases, respectively. High CCR7 expression in gastric cancer cells was significantly associated with poor overall survival (OS) (P = 0.010) and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.009), and was an independent factor for worse OS (P = 0.023) by multivariate analysis. High numbers of intratumoral FOXP3(+) Tregs significantly correlated with shorter OS (P = 0.021) and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.024), and was also an independent factor for adverse OS (P = 0.035). Furthermore, there was a significantly positive correlation between CCR7 positive score and intratumoral FOXP3(+) cell number (r = 0.949, P<0.001). These results revealed that CCR7 expression in gastric cancer cells and intratumoral FOXP3(+) Tregs could be considered as a co-indicator of clinical prognosis of gastric cancer.
本研究旨在探讨趋化因子受体 CCR7 表达和肿瘤内 FOXP3(+)调节性 T 细胞（Tregs）在胃癌中的预后价值。通过免疫组织化学方法在包含 133 例胃癌患者的组织微阵列中评估 CCR7(+)肿瘤细胞和 FOXP3(+)Tregs。通过 Cox 回归和 Kaplan-Meier 分析评估低或高 CCR7 和 FOXP3 表达的预后影响，并在纵向评估中评估 CCR7 阳性评分与肿瘤内 FOXP3(+)细胞数之间的相关性。分析表明，CCR7 和 FOXP3 的高表达水平分别在 69.9%和 65.4%的病例中检测到。胃癌细胞中 CCR7 高表达与总生存期（OS）不良（P = 0.010）和淋巴结转移（P = 0.009）显著相关，多变量分析显示 CCR7 高表达是 OS 不良的独立因素（P = 0.023）。肿瘤内 FOXP3(+)Tregs 数量较多与 OS 较短（P = 0.021）和淋巴结转移（P = 0.024）显著相关，也是 OS 不良的独立因素（P = 0.035）。此外，CCR7 阳性评分与肿瘤内 FOXP3(+)细胞数之间存在显著正相关（r = 0.949，P<0.001）。这些结果表明，胃癌细胞中 CCR7 表达和肿瘤内 FOXP3(+)Tregs 可作为胃癌临床预后的共同指标。
