Hong Yu, Yulong Jin, Na Di, Chunying He, Tianxue Wei

Jilin Province Tumor Hospital

Objective:To evaluate variation in lymphocyte subgroups in peripheral blood and its clinical significance in breast neoplasms patients. Method: Levels of CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD4⁺/CD8⁺, NK, NKT, CD8⁺CD28⁺, CD8⁺CD28^-, CD3⁺HLA-DR⁺, CD3^-HLA-DR⁺ and Treg cells in peripheral blood of breast neoplasms cases and healthy adults were determined by flow cytometry. Result: CD3⁺, CD8⁺, NK, and CD8⁺CD28⁺ cells in patients group were decreased significantly in comparison with the control group (CD3⁺: 65.00±10.49 vs. 71.34±12.10, CD8⁺: 24.91±8.85 vs.29.73±11.14, NK: 15.58±8.18 vs. 21.68±10.34, CD8⁺CD28⁺: 10.42±5.72 vs. 13.29±3.84, P < 0.05, respectively), and decreased with increase in the clinical stage, while CD4⁺ cells and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ratio demonstrated no significant change (CD4⁺: 40.45±9.40 vs. 38.57±10.64, CD4⁺/CD8⁺: 1.71±0.98 vs.1.91±1.04, P>0.05, respectively). Treg cells were significantly more frequent than in the control group (5.12±2.06 vs. 3.81±1.62, P<0.01), and increased with the clinical stage. No differences were found between the patients and control group with respect to the other lymphocyte subgroups. In patient group, the percentage of CD8⁺CD28^- cells among lymphocytes was elevated, and there was also an increase in the CD28^-/CD28⁺ cell ratio among CD8 lymphocyte population (1.52±2.08 vs. 1.23±1.06, P<0.05). Conclusion:The cellular immune function of the breast neoplasms patients is lowered. It is important to detect change of T lymphocyte subgroups by flow cytometry for the diagnosis, treatment and prognostic assessment of tumor patients. These findings should be complemented with further studies.

Key Words: breast neoplasms  lymphocyte subset  tumor immunity