Study on the tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes subsets in HCC patients

Objective: To investigate the changes of tumor infiltrating T lymphocyte subsets in HCC patients.Methods: Obtained fresh liver tissues from thirty patients with primary liver cancer and thirty patients who underwent hepatectomy because of benign lesions,then prepared infiltrating lymphocytes from these tissues.Used the method of flow cytometry to detect the cell surface molecules of T lymphocytes: CD3,CD4 and CD8.Results: 1)The proportions of CD3+CD4+T lymphocytes in infiltrating lymphocytes in HCC tissues were(22.31±3.68)%,which were significantly higher than those in adjacent liver tissues(10.69±2.47)% and in normal liver tissues(4.21±4.26)%(P=0.000,P=0.001).The proportions of CD3+CD4+T lymphocytes in adjacent liver tissues were significantly higher than those in normal liver tissues too(P=0.019).2)The proportions of CD3+CD8+T lymphocytes in infiltrating lymphocytes in HCC tissues and in adjacent liver tissues were(26.10± 5.82)% and(21.82±2.7)%,which were significantly lower than those in normal liver tissues(41.31± 14.01)%(P=0.014,P=0.004).The proportions of CD3+CD8+T lymphocytes were similar between those in HCC tissues and in adjacent liver tissues(P=0.651).3)The ratio of CD3+CD4+T lymphocytes and CD3+CD8+T lymphocytes in infiltrating lymphocytes in HCC tissues(0.91±0.30)were significantly higher than those in adjacent liver tissues(0.47±0.11,P=0.003)and in normal liver tissues(0.11±0.13,P=0.000).Conclusion: The proportions of CD3+CD4+T lymphocytes in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes of HCC tissues increased evidently,while the proportions of CD3+CD8+T lymphocytes decreased markedly.The ratios of CD3+CD4+/CD3+CD8+T lymphocytes were evidently raised.