Matsuda S, Yamane T, Hamaji M
Institute of Clinical Research, Kure National Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
Jpn J Clin Oncol. 1998 Feb;28(2):97-103. doi: 10.1093/jjco/28.2.97.
Intraepithelial T lymphocytes have been reported as being functional in the growth of epithelial cells and also in the discrimination of aberrant cells, whereas their function against colon adenocarcinoma cells is obscure. The phenotype of colon intraepithelial T lymphocytes has been found in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases but not in patients with colon adenocarcinoma. In this study, we investigated cell surface markers of tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes of adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum at various grades of differentiation and intraepithelial T lymphocytes of adjacent normal colon by enzyme immunostaining. Among intraepithelial T lymphocytes of the normal colon, CD8-and TCRgammadelta-positive T lymphocytes were predominant as described. In contrast, tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes of well-moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum were predominantly CD4- and TCRalphabeta-positive. The decrease of TCRgammadelta-positive T lymphocytes and the increase of CD4 and TCRalphabeta-positive T lymphocytes in adenocarcinoma tissues of the colon and rectum suggests that an alteration of the local immune system participates in the formation of adenoma and/or adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum, resulting in infiltration of CD4-positive T lymphocytes that have certain activity against transformed cells.
上皮内T淋巴细胞已被报道在上皮细胞生长以及异常细胞识别中发挥作用，然而它们对结肠腺癌细胞的作用尚不清楚。结肠上皮内T淋巴细胞的表型在炎症性肠病患者中被发现，但在结肠腺癌患者中未被发现。在本研究中，我们通过酶免疫染色研究了不同分化程度的结肠和直肠腺癌肿瘤浸润T淋巴细胞以及相邻正常结肠上皮内T淋巴细胞的细胞表面标志物。如前所述，在正常结肠的上皮内T淋巴细胞中，CD8和TCRγδ阳性T淋巴细胞占主导。相反，结肠和直肠中高-中分化腺癌的肿瘤浸润T淋巴细胞主要为CD4和TCRαβ阳性。结肠和直肠腺癌组织中TCRγδ阳性T淋巴细胞减少以及CD4和TCRαβ阳性T淋巴细胞增加表明，局部免疫系统的改变参与了结肠和直肠腺瘤和/或腺癌的形成，导致具有一定抗转化细胞活性的CD4阳性T淋巴细胞浸润。
