ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the presences of regulatory T cells (Treg) and natural killer T cell (NKT)-like T cells in the peripheral blood of healthy subjects and patients with newly diagnosed cancer. Methods Patients were enrolled into four groups: healthy subjects (Group A), patients without cancer (Group B), patients with newly diagnosed stage Ⅰ~Ⅱ cancer (Group C), and patients with newly diagnosed stage Ⅲ~Ⅳ cancer (Group D). Flow cytometry was performed to detect the percentage of CD4+ CD25high CD127low cells in CD4+ T lymphocytes (Treg) and the percentage of CD3+ CD56+ cells in CD3+ T lymphocytes (NKT-like). Results The percentage of Treg cells in CD4+T lymphocytes was(6.72 ± 3.16)%, (6.49 ± 2.83)%,(6.80 ± 3.07)%and (7.63 3.47)% in Group A, B, C and D, respectively, with no significant differences among these groups (P>0.05). However, the percentage of CD3+CD56+T cells in CD3+T lymphocytes was (3.13 ± 1.66)%, (2.56 ± 1.27)%,(7.22 ± 2.70)% and (7.72 ± 3.10)% in Group A, B, C and D, respectively, with marked increases in Group C and D compared to those in Group A and B (P < 0.05). Conclusion Patients with newly diagnosed cancer demonstrated increasing trends in the percentage of peripheral NKT-like cells.