Department of Respiratory Diseases, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
J Int Med Res. 2022 Jun;50(6):3000605221108924. doi: 10.1177/03000605221108924.
Natural killer (NK) cells play an essential role in the immune response against cancer. However, immune escape mechanisms may cause inferior NK cell activity (NKA) in patients with cancer. This prospective study examined the relationship between NKA and lung cancer in a high-risk cohort.
In a cohort study, 250 participants referred by their general practitioner for suspicion of lung cancer were included. Before clinical investigation, blood was collected into NK Vue tubes, and the level of interferon gamma after 24 hours served as a surrogate marker for NKA.
Among 250 patients, 79 were diagnosed with lung cancer. No difference in NKA was found between patients with lung cancer and control participants in which lung cancer was ruled out (median 226 pg/mL vs. 450 pg/mL). However, there was a significant difference in NKA between patients with late-stage lung cancer and controls (median 161 pg/mL vs. 450 pg/mL). A linear regression model showed that NKA was not influenced by age, sex or smoking status.
The significantly lower NKA in patients with late-stage lung cancer warrants further investigation combining NKA with other biomarkers and examining the potential role of NKA as a marker of disseminated disease.
自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞在抗肿瘤免疫反应中发挥着重要作用。然而，免疫逃逸机制可能导致癌症患者的 NK 细胞活性 (NKA) 降低。本前瞻性研究在高危人群中研究了 NKA 与肺癌之间的关系。
在一项队列研究中，纳入了 250 名由全科医生转介怀疑患有肺癌的患者。在临床检查之前，将血液采集到 NK Vue 管中，24 小时后干扰素γ的水平可作为 NKA 的替代标志物。
在 250 名患者中，有 79 名被诊断患有肺癌。患有肺癌的患者与排除肺癌的对照组之间的 NKA 无差异（中位数分别为 226pg/mL 和 450pg/mL）。然而，晚期肺癌患者与对照组之间的 NKA 存在显著差异（中位数分别为 161pg/mL 和 450pg/mL）。线性回归模型显示，NKA 不受年龄、性别或吸烟状况的影响。
晚期肺癌患者的 NKA 明显降低，需要进一步结合 NKA 与其他生物标志物进行研究，并研究 NKA 作为播散性疾病标志物的潜在作用。
