RESUMO
AIM:ToinvestigatetheexpressionofFoxp3+regulatoryTcells(Foxp3+Tregs)andprogrammed death receptor 1 (PD1) in gastric cancer tissues and their association with clinicopathological factors and prognosis of the patients.The correlation between the 2 molecules was also analyzed at the same time.METHODS: The tumor sections from 111 gastric cancer patients were stained for Foxp3 and PD1 by the method of immunohistochemistry.The associations of the expression levels of these 2 molecules with clinicopathological factors involved in the disease progression and progno-sis were statistically analyzed .The relationship of their expression was detected.RESULTS:Foxp3 +Tregs and PD1 were expressed in the gastric cancer tissues, and PD1 was expressed in the tumor infiltrating lymphocytes ( TILs) .The expres-sion of Foxp3 and PD1 was correlated with lymph node metastasis, clinicopathological stage and prognosis of gastric cancer patients.The expression of these 2 determinants in the patients with lymph node metastasis and an advanced clinicopatho-logical stage was distinctly higher ( P<0.05 ) .The patients with positive expression of the 2 indexes presented a lower overall survival rate and worse prognosis (P<0.05).A significantly positive correlation between the infiltration of Foxp3 +Tregs and the expression of PD1+TILs was also observed (P<0.01).CONCLUSION:Foxp3 +Tregs and PD1 +TILs co-infiltrate in the gastric cancer tissues, which can be used as biological markers to predict the disease progression and prog-nosis.