RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the change of T lymphocyte subsets, interleukin (IL)-2 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in the tumor- bearing mice and patients with oral cancer receiving thermo-chemotherapy, and investigate the correlation among them.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>After treatments, the expression of lymphocyte transformation index (LTI), IL-2 and TNF-alpha in the tumor-bearing mice were detected with methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT), the expression of IL-2 and TNF-alpha in the patients with oral cancer were detected with MTT, the expression of LTI, CD4+ and CD8+ were detected with 3H-TdR incorporation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>LTI, IL-2 and TNF-alpha of thermo-chemotherapy group (HP group) had no significant difference comparing with those of normal mice group (N group) (P>0.05), but which were significantly higher than those of chemotherapy group (P group) and no treatment group (NT group) (P<0.01). In clinical trials, the expression of LTI, CD4+, CD4+/CD8+, IL-2 and TNF-alpha on oral cancer patients after thermo-chemotherapy were significantly higher than those before thermo-chemotherapy (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>After thermo-chemotherapy, the expression of LTI, IL-2 and TNF-alpha of tumor-bearing hosts are significantly improved, there is a significant correlation between IL-2 and T cell.</p>