Several studies have reported that patients with stomach cancer are frequently affected by malnutrition. Malnourished patients are at risk of postoperative complications. Immune function starts to deteriorate when weight loss exceeds 15%. Early enteral nutrition support reduces postoperative lymphocytopenia. T lymphocytes are central elements of the immune system. CD69, CD25 and HLA-DR molecules are expressed following activation on T lymphocytes surface. THE AIM OF THE STUDY was to assess the effect of surgery and early postoperative enteral nutrition on peripheral blood T lymphocytes activation status in stomach cancer patients.
Material and methods: Lymphocyte T CD: CD3/CD69, CD3/CD25, CD3/HLA-DR were determined in 30 stomach cancer patients before treatment and 1, 3, 7 and 10 days after gastrectomy. Patients received early enteral nutrition from 20 hours to 7 days after surgery. The obtained results were compared with the results of 30 healthy volunteers.
Results: The significant deficiency of total T lymphocyte number was found in stomach cancer patients before surgery and in postoperative period in comparison with the control group. The populations of CD3+/CD69+, CD3+/CD25+ and CD3+/HLA-DR+ T lymphocytes in patients with stomach cancer were significantly higher in comparison with healthy donors. The significant increase of percentage of activated T lymphocytes was observed, too.
Conclusions: The obtained data demonstrated significant quantitative defect in T lymphocytes and significant increase of their activation status in stomach cancer patients. Surgical procedure intensified changes that were observed before treatment. The most dynamic changes were observed in CD3+/CD69+ T cells population.