Clinical significance of peripheral blood and tumor tissue lymphocyte subsets in cervical cancer patients

Yutuan Wu; Shuang Ye; Shyamal Goswami; Xuan Pei; Libing Xiang; Xiaoming Zhang; Huijuan Yang

doi:10.1186/s12885-020-6633-x

Clinical significance of peripheral blood and tumor tissue lymphocyte subsets in cervical cancer patients

BMC Cancer. 2020 Mar 4;20(1):173. doi: 10.1186/s12885-020-6633-x.

Authors

Yutuan Wu^{1

2}, Shuang Ye^{1

2}, Shyamal Goswami³, Xuan Pei^{1

2}, Libing Xiang^{1

2}, Xiaoming Zhang³, Huijuan Yang^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gynecological Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
³ Unit of Innate Defense and Immune Modulation, Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Gynecological Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. huijuanyang@hotmail.com.
⁵ Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China. huijuanyang@hotmail.com.

Abstract

Background: Alterations in peripheral blood lymphocytes in cervical cancer have been reported, although conflicting views exist. The present study investigated the distributions of lymphocyte subsets in tumor tissue and peripheral blood samples from cervical cancer patients and precancerous lesion patients, and evaluated the correlations of lymphocyte subsets with clinicopathological and prognostic variables.

Methods: A total of 44 patients with stage IB1-IIA2 cervical cancer and 13 precancerous lesion patients were included. Lymphocytes were collected from the tumor tissue and the peripheral blood, and isolated by Lymphoprep density gradient centrifugation. The percentages of lymphocyte subsets were quantified by flow cytometry analysis, and the differences between lymphocyte subsets in the tumor tissue and peripheral blood were compared by SPSS. In addition, the relationships between lymphocyte subsets and clinicopathological and prognostic variables were analyzed.

Results: Our results revealed that the amount of total T lymphocytes, CD8+ T cells, granulocytes, pDCs, CD16+ monocytes and CD56^high NK cells were significantly higher in the tumor tissue than in the peripheral blood in the cervical cancer patients, while those of CD4+ T cells, CD4+/CD8+ cell ratio, rdT cells, BDCA1+ mDCs, total monocytes, CD14+ monocytes, NK cells and CD56^low NK cells exhibited the opposite trend (p < 0.05). The levels of total pDCs and BDCA1+ mDCs in the peripheral blood were significantly lower in the cervical cancer patients than in the precancerous lesion patients, while the proportion of CD16+ monocytes was elevated (p < 0.05). In addition, some lymphocyte subsets, especially CD4+ cells and CD8+ cells, and the CD4+/CD8+ cell ratio were closely associated with clinicopathological and prognostic parameters.

Conclusions: These results suggested that distinct alterations in infiltrating lymphocyte subsets occurred in the tumor and were associated with clinicopathological and prognostic parameters. Systemic impairment of the immune system may occur in the antitumor response of cervical cancer patients.

Keywords: Cervical cancer; Clinicopathological variables; Lymphocyte subsets; Prognosis; Tumor immunology.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Female
Humans
Leukocytes, Mononuclear / immunology*
Lymphocyte Count
Lymphocyte Subsets / metabolism*
Middle Aged
Neoplasm Staging
Prognosis
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / immunology
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / pathology*
Young Adult

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding