Lu Yan, Zhang Qiaohong, Wang Jiang, Zhang Longyi
Clinical Laboratory, DongYang People's Hospital, Dongyang, Zhejiang, China.
Department of Breast Surgery, DongYang People's Hospital, Dongyang, Zhejiang, China.
Front Oncol. 2023 Feb 28;13:1118346. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1118346. eCollection 2023.
Circulating CD4 helper T cell (Th) subsets provide potentially important information on disease progression in several cancers. In this study, we explored the characteristics and postoperative dynamic changes in circulating CD4Th subsets in patients with breast cancer.
Circulating CD4Th subsets, including CD4 naive T cells (Tn), CD4 central memory T cells (Tcm), CD4 effector memory T cells (Tem), CD4CD57T, and CD4PD-1T, were detected with multiparameter flow cytometry. T-test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to compare differences between groups for normally and non-normally distributed continuous variables, respectively. Postoperative dynamic changes in CD4Th subsets were assessed using the paired-sample rank-sum test.
Seventy-five patients with invasive breast cancer and fifty-three patients with benign breast tumors were enrolled. Compared with that in patients with benign tumors, the proportion of CD4Tn in patients with breast cancer patients decreased, whereas the proportion and absolute number of CD4CD57T and CD4PD-1T increased. Moreover, the proportion of CD4PD-1T was correlated with the clinicopathology of breast cancer. After tumor resection, the proportion and absolute number of CD4Tcm significantly decreased, while those of CD4Tem significantly increased, compared with preoperative values. Tumor resection caused significant changes in the proportion and absolute number of CD4CD57T and CD4PD-1 T, both of which showed significant decreases.
We found significant changes in circulating CD4Th subsets in patients with breast cancer. Additionally, complete tumor resection can benefit the patient as it balances the patient's immunosuppression and immune stress and improves the immune exhaustion and immunosenescence states.
循环CD4辅助性T细胞（Th）亚群为多种癌症的疾病进展提供了潜在的重要信息。在本研究中，我们探讨了乳腺癌患者循环CD4 Th亚群的特征及术后动态变化。
采用多参数流式细胞术检测循环CD4 Th亚群，包括CD4初始T细胞（Tn）、CD4中央记忆T细胞（Tcm）、CD4效应记忆T细胞（Tem）、CD4 CD57 T和CD4 PD-1 T。分别使用t检验和Wilcoxon秩和检验比较正态分布和非正态分布连续变量组间的差异。采用配对样本秩和检验评估CD4 Th亚群的术后动态变化。
纳入75例浸润性乳腺癌患者和53例乳腺良性肿瘤患者。与良性肿瘤患者相比，乳腺癌患者中CD4 Tn的比例降低，而CD4 CD57 T和CD4 PD-1 T的比例及绝对数量增加。此外，CD4 PD-1 T的比例与乳腺癌的临床病理特征相关。肿瘤切除术后，与术前值相比，CD4 Tcm的比例和绝对数量显著降低，而CD4 Tem的比例和绝对数量显著增加。肿瘤切除导致CD4 CD57 T和CD4 PD-1 T的比例和绝对数量发生显著变化，二者均显著降低。
我们发现乳腺癌患者循环CD4 Th亚群有显著变化。此外，完整的肿瘤切除可使患者受益，因为它平衡了患者的免疫抑制和免疫应激，并改善了免疫耗竭和免疫衰老状态。
