The presence and the significance of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in livers of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华肝脏病杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the presence and clinical significance of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in liver tissues of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells and CD8+ cells and their relative proportions in liver tissues and peripheral blood of HCC patients and of healthy volunteers were analyzed using flow cytometry. The distributions of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in liver tissues were also analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Around the tumor tissues (peri-tumor), the percentage of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells was 10.8% +/- 2.3%, which was obviously higher than in the tissues away from the cancer tissues (P < 0.05). The percentage of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood of HCC patients was 9.4% +/- 1.0%, which was obviously lower than that of the healthy volunteers (12.9% +/- 1.3%) (P < 0.01). With increasing CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in the peri-tumor tissue, there was a trend of CD8+ cells decreasing.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells played an anti-tumor immunity role in hepatocellular carcinoma by restraining the CD8+ cells.</p>