Szczepanik AM, Siedlar M, Sierzega M, Goroszeniuk D, Bukowska-Strakova K, Czupryna A, Kulig J. T-regulatory lymphocytes in peripheral blood of gastric and colorectal cancer patients. World J Gastroenterol 2011; 17(3): 343-348 [PMID: 21253393 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i3.343]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Antoni M Szczepanik, MD, 1st Department of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 40 Kopernika street, 31-501 Krakow, Poland. msszczep@cyf-kr.edu.pl
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World J Gastroenterol. Jan 21, 2011; 17(3): 343-348 Published online Jan 21, 2011. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i3.343
T-regulatory lymphocytes in peripheral blood of gastric and colorectal cancer patients
Antoni M Szczepanik, Maciej Siedlar, Marek Sierzega, Dominika Goroszeniuk, Karolina Bukowska-Strakova, Antoni Czupryna, Jan Kulig
Antoni M Szczepanik, Marek Sierzega, Antoni Czupryna, Jan Kulig, 1st Department of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-501 Krakow, Poland
Maciej Siedlar, Karolina Bukowska-Strakova, Department of Clinical Immunology Polish-American Institute of Pediatrics, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 30-663 Krakow, Poland
Author contributions: Szczepanik AM, Siedlar M and Sierzega M made substantial contributions to the conception, design, drafting and critical revision of the article; Goroszeniuk D, Czupryna A and Kulig J analyzed the data and contributed to drafting the paper; Bukowska-Strakova K contributed to lymphocyte subpopulation analysis, data acquisition and interpretation; all authors approved the published version of the paper.
Supported by Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland Grants 2P05C 001 29 and K/PBW/000421
Correspondence to: Antoni M Szczepanik, MD, 1st Department of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 40 Kopernika street, 31-501 Krakow, Poland. msszczep@cyf-kr.edu.pl
Telephone: +48-12-4248007 Fax: +48-12-4248007
Received: July 12, 2010 Revised: August 27, 2010 Accepted: September 3, 2010 Published online: January 21, 2011
Abstract
AIM: To assess the absolute number of T-regulatory cells (Tregs; CD4+CD25+Foxp3+) in the peripheral blood of gastric and colorectal cancer patients.
METHODS: We enrolled 70 cancer patients (33 gastric cancer, 37 colorectal cancer) and 17 healthy volunteers. The CD3+CD4+ lymphocytes and CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs in the peripheral blood were analyzed with flow cytometry. The absolute numbers of Tregs were calculated based on the CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells percentage of CD3+CD4+ cells and the absolute numbers of CD3+CD4+ cells per microliter.
RESULTS: The mean number of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells per microliter in colorectal cancer patients was 15.7 (SD: 21.8), for gastric cancer patients 12.2 (SD: 14.3), and for controls 17.5 (SD: 11.4). The absolute number of Tregs was significantly lower in gastric cancer patients than in controls (P = 0.026). There was no statistically significant difference for gastric vs colorectal cancer or colorectal cancer vs controls. The absolute number of Tregs was also significantly depressed in N+vs N- cancer patients [22.0 (27.7) vs 10.1 (9.0), P = 0.013], and in the subgroup of gastric cancer patients [30.3 (27.6) vs 9.6 (8.0), P = 0.003]. No statistical difference was observed in the proportion of Tregs in the CD4+ population between the groups.
CONCLUSION: The absolute number of Tregs in peripheral blood of gastric cancer but not colorectal cancer patients was significantly decreased in comparison with that in healthy controls.
