Immune effect and prognosis of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and tyrosine kinase inhibitors therapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Peripheral blood lymphocyte profiles before and after treatment in different combination groups

Type	T + A			T + L			T + S			T + D
	Before treatment	After treatment	P value	Before treatment	After treatment	P value	Before treatment	After treatment	P value	Before treatment	After treatment	P value
Total T lymphocytes (%)	78.79 (9.22)	76.50 (10.59)	0.260	70.71 (10.78)	71.55 (9.20)	0.755	73.84 (11.88)	74.44 (9.47)	0.869	72.75 (13.79)	71.26 (14.45)	0.606
Suppressor/cytotoxic cells (%)	32.20 (13.03)	31.82 (14.55)	0.907	28.05 (12.29)	25.73 (7.82)	0.490	26.74 (12.65)	26.06 (8.73)	0.756	28.59 (14.91)	27.07 (13.53)	0.478
Helper/inducible cells (%)	39.04 (8.31)	37.98 (7.35)	0.608	40.89 (9.73)	32.54 (9.74)	0.003a	42.05 (8.64)	44.06 (7.17)	0.434	34.70 (7.35)	35.93 (5.64)	0.446
Natural killer cell (%)	12.68 (8.13)	11.56 (8.28)	0.505	17.13 (8.63)	16.86 (8.16)	0.922	18.81 (11.28)	17.56 (9.27)	0.715	16.31 (11.20)	18.61 (12.75)	0.261
B lymphocytes (%)	7.20 (4.71)	9.43 (6.42)	0.093	10.68 (8.34)	10.82 (5.38)	0.952	5.58 (3.38)	5.96 (3.23)	0.707	10.30 (6.15)	10.40 (4.44)	0.933
Helper T cells/suppressor T cells	1.58 (1.20)	1.67 (1.27)	0.659	1.79 (1.25)	1.64 (0.93)	0.674	1.98 (0.99)	1.86 (0.63)	0.585	1.46 (0.54)	1.59 (0.61)	0.198
Regulatory cells (%)	11.65 (3.90)	11.60 (3.63)	0.918	10.47 (2.60)	11.79 (2.88)	0.110	10.04 (2.93)	10.31 (3.11)	0.789	12.23 (4.35)	10.78 (3.27)	0.013a
Proportion of PD-1+ in mononuclei (%)	2.05 (4.13)	1.21 (2.89)	0.045a	4.45 (6.24)	2.37 (6.43)	0.136	5.11 (8.10)	2.66 (6.40)	0.132	1.36 (4.86)	2.15 (6.24)	0.533
Proportion of PD-1+ in CD3+ cells (%)	2.43 (5.68)	1.85 (5.18)	0.563	6.93 (9.04)	3.79 (8.64)	0.205	6.91 (10.95)	3.48 (8.89)	0.071	1.69 (6.48)	2.79 (8.01)	0.330
Proportion of PD-1+ in CD4+ cells (%)	1.69 (4.39)	1.72 (5.14)	0.974	6.11 (8.56)	3.16 (7.42)	0.144	8.06 (12.81)	3.91 (10.43)	0.146	2.00 (8.42)	2.62 (7.94)	0.660
Proportion of PD-1+ in CD8+ cells (%)	3.32 (8.42)	1.86 (5.36)	0.262	7.92 (11.64)	4.60 (10.61)	0.262	3.36 (6.86)	1.98 (7.22)	0.375	1.13 (4.02)	2.12 (6.05)	0.292
Absolute count of total lymphocytes (/uL)	1537.33 (650.17)	1349.96 (534.78)	0.154	1248.86 (442.71)	1624.48 (602.20)	0.032a	1555.82 (503.27)	1319.00 (374.04)	0.148	1891.05 (784.70)	1721.86 (466.61)	0.378
Absolute T lymphocyte count (/uL)	1194.63 (461.58)	1058.63 (467.70)	0.223	898.57 (347.46)	1143.43 (436.88)	0.058	1137.41 (484.47)	976.18 (230.22)	0.266	1251.73 (531.50)	1270.27 (452.22)	0.860
CD4+T lymphocyte absolute count (/uL)	625.46 (346.62)	488.96 (184.78)	0.027a	421.43 (38.52)	603.24 (62.16)	0.009a	628.12 (184.95)	579.65 (173.29)	0.425	627.45 (198.58)	590.09 (464.05)	0.700
CD8+T lymphocyte absolute count (/uL)	492.25 (266.83)	457.58 (368.59)	0.652	379.71 (130.84)	502.71 (267.30)	0.023a	425.24 (327.35)	340.24 (125.24)	0.294	390.64 (183.19)	530.18 (169.23)	0.001a
Absolute NK cell count (/uL)	214.25 (217.71)	156.75 (143.46)	0.112	299.10 (233.67)	201.76 (113.38)	0.114	333.12 (238.31)	258.47 (191.34)	0.323	288.41 (223.55)	384.86 (229.53)	0.039a
Absolute B cell count (/uL)	109.21 (95.35)	127.29 (89.20)	0.333	178.76 (153.83)	134.33 (77.23)	0.285	80.18 (46.41)	74.82 (46.18)	0.720	179.60 (108.93)	164.73 (93.09)	0.650

^aP < 0.05.

T + A: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization combined with apatinib group; T + L: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization combined with lenvatinib group; T + S: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization combined with sorafenib group; T + D: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization combined with donafenib group; PD-1: Programmed cell death protein 1; NK: Natural killer cell.