Expression of the regulatory B cells in peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer and its clinical significance / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of regulatory B cells (Bregs) in peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer. Methods The peripheral blood was collected from 72 patients with lung cancer and 29 healthy subjects (as control), and the Bregs subsets (CD19+CD5+CD1d+) were detected by flow cytometry, the levels of IL- 10 and TGF-β in serum were determined by ELISA. Proportion of Bregs and peripheral blood levels of IL-10 and TGF-β were compared between lung cancer patients and healthy controls, and between the lung cancer patients in stage +Ⅱ and those in stage III+. The correlation between Bregs proportion and peripheral blood levels of IL-10 and TGF-β were further investigated. Results The percentage of Bregs was significantly higher in the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients than that of healthy controls (5.01%±1.20% vs 2.78%±0.56%, P<0.01). The proportion of Bregs was found to be increased in patients in clinical III and stages (5.63%±1.04%) compared with those in clinical and Ⅱ stages (4.13%±0.78%, P<0.01). The IL-10 and TGF-β levels were obviously higher in lung cancer patients than those in healthy controls (2.34±0.79pg/ml vs 1.29±0.51pg/ml, and 56.64±6.93ng/ml vs 22.42±4.42ng/ml, respectively, P<0.01), and in patients in III and stages than those in patients in and Ⅱ stages (2.79±0.60pg/ml vs 1.71±0.59pg/ml, and 59.88±6.63ng/ml vs 52.10±4.37ng/ml, respectively, P<0.01). There was a positive correlation between the proportion of Bregs and the levels of IL-10 (r=0.69, P<0.01), but no significant correlation was found between the proportion of Bregs and the levels of TGF-β. Conclusion Increased proportion of Bregs and levels of serum IL-10 and TGF-β in lung cancer patients may imply that the Bregs are probably associated with the progression of lung cancer.