engleski

Augmentation of regulatory T cells (CD4+CD25+FoxP3+) corelates with tumor stage in patients with colorectal carcinoma

Recent evidence suggests that decline of regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a critical role in the prevalence of autoimmune diseases inhibiting the maintenance of peripheral self tolerance, while its augmentation leads to insufficient antitumor response, accompanied with poor prognosis in various malignancies. Increased number of Tregs (CD4+CD25+FoxP3+) were noticed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and/or regional lymph nodes lymphocytes (LNLs) of patients with gastrointestinal tumors. Patients and methods: The aim of our study was to investigate the correlation between the percentage of Tregs in peripheral blood of patients with colorectal carcinoma, using flow cytometric technique and tumor stages, classified as Duke’ s A, B, C or D and by stage of differentiation. Peripheral blood venous samples were obtained from 92 patients with CRC and from 30 healthy adult volunteers. Statistical analysis: Linear regression equations were generated using a least-squares method and analyzed for differences of covariance. Statistical significance was calculated by Mann Whitney U test. The differences were considered significant for p 0.05. Results: 15% of our CRC patients were classified as Duke’ s A, 41% were Duke’ s B, 35% were Duke’ s C and 9% were Duke’ s D. 54% patients with CRC were good differentiated, 11% were bad differentiated, 20 were in middle stage, 4% were mucinous carcinoma and rest of 11% were partly good differentiated and partly mucinous. The increased percentage of Tregs in CRC patients correlates with tumor stage. Conclusion: These results indicate a possible involvement of regulatory T cells in disease progression. New strategies using inhibition or depletion of Tregs are necessary to elucidate the complexity of defective tumor immunity.

colorectal cancer; innate immunity; Tregs

nije evidentirano