The Study On Immune Monitoring Of T Lymphocyte Subsets And Tim-3~+ Cells

Objective To assess the characteristics of the changes in levels of CD3+, CD4+,CD8+T cell subsets in patients. To assess the changes in levels of T cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (TIM-3) positive T cells. To investigate the role of T cell subsets and Tim-3+T cell in immune function monitoring.Methods 491 blood samples were collected from patients admitted in our hospital from January 2006 to April 2011, within them were 427 malignant tumor patients,34 sepsis patients, and 30 critically ill patients from ICU. CD3/CD4/CD8 T cell subsets and TIM-3 expression level were assessed by flow cytometry. Blood samples of 30 healthy patients from the clinic were collected as the control. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS.Results1. CD3+ cell significantly decreased in gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, sepsis and ICU patients when compare to the control group (P<0.05). There is no significant decrease between breast cancer patients and normal control (P>0.05).2. CD4+ T cell significantly decreased in gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, sepsis and ICU patients when compare to the control group (P<0.05). There is no significant decrease between breast cancer patients and normal control (P>0.05).3. CD8+ T cell significantly increased in gastrointestinal cancer when compare to the control group (P<0.05). There are no significant increase between lung cancer, breast cancer, sepsis and ICU patients when compared to normal control (P>0.05).4. CD4+/CD8+ cell ratio decreased in gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, sepsis and ICU patients when compare to the control group (P<0.05). There is no significant decrease between breast cancer patients and normal control (P>0.05).5. Tim-3+ cells of lymphocytes significantly increased in critically ill patients from ICU when compare to control group (P<0.05).6. Tim-3+ cells of lymphocytes significantly increased in tumor patients when compare to control group (P<0.05). Tim-3+ cells of lymphocytes significantly increased in advance stage tumor patients when compare to the control group (P<0.05).Conclusions1. CD4+ T cell decreased in tumor, sepsis and ICU patients which indicate immune function impairment of these patients.2. CD4+/CD8+ cell ratio decreased in tumor, sepsis and ICU patients which indicate that immune function of these patients decreased and poor prognosis.3. TIM-3 as an indicator to evaluate the consumption of T cells, and the increased of Tim-3+ cells in advance tumor and critically ill patient indicate that the immune function of these patients were low and can lead to poor prognosis.4. CD4+/CD8+ cell ratio and Tim-3+ cells were important indicators in revealing the immune function of patients. It can be an important indicator to be used to monitor the progression of different diseases or predict the effect and prognosis of different treatments.