Changes and Clinical Significance of Detailed Peripheral Lymphocyte Subsets in Evaluating the Immunity for Cancer Patients

Abstract

Jinrong Qiu, 1,* Fuping Zhou, 1,* Xinchun Li, 2,* Sufang Zhang, 2 Zhuo Chen, 2 Zenghui Xu, 2 Gaoxiong Lu, 2 Zhi Zhu, 3 Na Ding, 2 Jinxing Lou, 4 Zhenlong Ye, 2 Qijun Qian 1, 2, 4  1Department of Biotherapy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, The Second Military Medical University of Chinese PLA, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Shanghai Baize Medical Laboratory, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology, Changhai Hospital, The Second Military Medical University of Chinese PLA, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 4Shanghai Mengchao Cancer Hospital, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Qijun Qian; Zhenlong YeShanghai Baize Medical Laboratory, Yuanguo Road, Shanghai 201805, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]; [email protected]: The evaluation of lymphocyte subsets is widely regarded as an important factor for monitoring tumor progression and response to therapy. This study was designed to establish a comprehensive and detailed assessment of peripheral lymphocyte subsets with a multi-parametric flow cytometry assay for response prediction and prognosis evaluation of cancer patients.Methods: Peripheral blood samples collected from 40 cancer patients and 23 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were tested for 29 lymphocyte subsets by flow cytometry. The univariate analysis was applied to establish the reference interval of healthy samples, and the ratio and proportion of 29 lymphocyte subsets between patient samples and healthy controls were compared to evaluate their clinical significance by Mann–Whitney U-test model.Results: The reference ranges of 29 lymphocyte subsets were established with a normal distribution and no significant differences were observed between genders. Compared with healthy control group, lower proportion and ratio of specific parameters, such as Naïve Th cells (p< 0.01), Naïve Tc cells (p< 0.01), CM (central memory) Tc cells (p< 0.01), Naïve T cells/Memory T cells (p< 0.001), Naïve T cells/EM (effector memory) T cells (p< 0.001) and Naive Th cells/Memory Th cells (p< 0.001), and higher proportion and ratio of EM Th cells (p< 0.001), EM Tc cells (p< 0.01), effector Tc cells (p< 0.05), EM Th cells/CM Th cells (p< 0.01) and EM Tc cells/CM Tc cells (p< 0.01), as well as Breg (p< 0.001), B cells (p< 0.05) and CD16-NK cells (p< 0.001) were found in cancer cohorts.Conclusion: This study suggests that the changes in certain lymphocyte subsets might be helpful to evaluate the immunity of cancer patients, and holds great potential for clinical application.Keywords: solid tumor, lymphocyte subsets, clinic significance, reference intervals, flow cytometry  

Keywords

• solid tumor
• lymphocyte subsets
• clinic significance
• reference intervals
• flow cytometry