Perioperative cimetidine administration promotes peripheral blood lymphocytes and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in patients with gastrointestinal cancer: Results of a randomized controlled clinical trial

Figure 1 Immunocytochemical staining of PBMCs with monoclonal antibodies to CD₃, CD₄, CD₈ and CD₅₇. Positive cells were stained green in the nuclei and yellow-brown in cytoplasm and cell membrane. The microphoto showed CD₃ positive cells.

Figure 2 Changes in CD₃⁺ cell percentages in perioperative period. A: at randomization; B: before operation; C: on the 2nd postoperative day; and D: on the 10th postoperative day. The difference in CD₃⁺ percentages between treatment and control groups at time points C and D was statistically significant, ^bP < 0.01. The difference in CD₃⁺ percentages on the 10th postoperative day and the randomization day was statistically significant for both treatment and control groups, ^dP < 0.01.

Figure 3 Changes in CD₄⁺ cell percentages in perioperative period. A: at randomization; B: before operation; C: on the 2nd postoperative day; and D: on the 10th postoperative day. The difference in CD₄⁺ percentages between treatment and control groups at time points C and D was statistically significant, ^bP < 0.01. The differences in CD₄⁺ percentages on the 10th postoperative day and the randomization day was statistically significant for both treatment and control groups, ^dP < 0.01.

Figure 4 Changes in CD₅₇⁺ cell percentages in perioperative period. A: at randomization; B: before operation; C: on the 2nd postoperative day; and D: on the 10th postoperative day. The difference in CD₅₇⁺ percentages between treatment and con-trol groups at time points C and D was statistically significant, ^bP < 0.01. The differences in CD₅₇⁺ percentages between treat-ment group and normal control on the 10th postoperative day was statistically significant, ^dP < 0.01.

Figure 5 TIL responses in surgical specimens in treatment and control groups. In control group, there was a progressive de-crease in TIL responses with increase of TNM staging. On the other hand, the treatment group showed a steady increase in TIL responses after CIM treatment for 1 wk. The differences in TIL response rates were statistically significant between treat-ment and control groups for TNM stages III and IV diseases (^aP < 0.05 and ^bP < 0.01, respectively, Fisher’s exact test).