Expression and clinical significance of Tim-3 in peripheral blood natural killer cells of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma / 实用口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To detect the expression levels of T cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (Tim-3) in peripheral blood natural killer (NK) cells of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and to study their biological and clinical significance.Methods:The expression of Tim-3 in the CD3-CD56 + NK cells was examined in 72 patients with OSCC and 40 heathy controls (HC) by flow cytometry.The correlation of Tim-3 expression in NK cells with clinicopathological parameters was analyzed.Results:The proportion of CD3-CD56 + NK cells was significantly decreased in OSCC patients as compared with HC [(9.30 ± 2.52)％ vs (17.36 ± 3.15)％,P ＜ 0.001].The percentage of Tim-3 + CD3-CD56 + NK cells in OSCC patients was higher than that in HC [(14.35 ± 6.35) ％ vs (1.78 ± 0.86) ％,P ＜ 0.001].High percentage of Tim-3 + CD3-CD56 + NK cells was associated with cell differentiation,lymphatic metastasis and pathological stage of OSCC (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion:Lower proportion of NK cells and higher level of Tim-3 in peripheral blood NK cells may play a role in the development of OSCC.