Regulatory T cells and hepatocellular carcinoma / 国际外科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subpopulation of CD4 +T cells highly expressing CD25 and Foxp3. Treg not only involves in autoimmune disease, infection and transplantation tolerance, but also plays a pivotal role in the suppression of anti-tumor immunity during tumor development. Current researches suggest the frequency of Treg is increased in tumor tissues and peripheral blood of patients with HCC, which is associated with HCC development, and affect survival rate and prognosis of HCC patients. Depletion of Treg together with surgical resection of the tumor could be a new approach for HCC, which can enhance tumorspecific T cell memory to remove latent metastasis and protect against recurrence for improvement of HCC therapeutic effect. This review presents the role of Treg in HCC development, the relationship between Treg and prognosis and its clinical practice.