Expression And Significance Of Regulatory T Cell In Patients With Breast Cancer

【Objective】To investigate the expressions and clinical significance of regulatory Tcells (Tregs) in peripheral blood and tumor tissue of breast cancer patients.【Methods】48cases of female breast cancer patients(age range29~83yr, medianage56) were randomly selected to our study. As control groups,12cases of healthyfemale volunteers (age range20~28yr, median age24) were also studied.Besidesthat,10cases of breast samples including the tumor tissues and adjacent tissues werechosed from all samples of breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma.All patients did nothave any history of autoimmune disease or receive any treatments. Regulatory T cells(Tregs) in peripheral blood and tumor tissue of breast cancer patients were dectectedby flow cytometry.【Results】The Treg level in10breast cancer patients was at (39.74±9.02)%in thetumor tissues, significantly higher than the level in the adjacent tissues (29.81±8.52,P<0.05);The Treg level in forty-eight breast cancer patients was at (7.04±1.56)%inthe peripheral blood, significantly higher than the level in12healthy volunteers(4.01±1.05, P<0.05). With the progress of the disease, the proportion of Tregs inperipheral blood of breast cancer patients had a higher level.The levels of Tregs in theperipheral blood of breast cancer patients with stage (Ⅱ+Ⅲ) was significantly higherthan those of patients with stageⅠ[(6.39±0.81)%, P<0.05]and heathy volunteers[(4.01±1.05)%%, P<0.05].【Conclusion】The proportion of Tregs in peripheral blood of breast cancer patientswas significantly increased,compared with normal control group.There were Tregs in-filtrating in breast cancer tissue.The proportion of Tregs in peripheral blood of breastcancer patients was significantly correlated to the clinical staging of tumor and contri-buted to the development of tumor. As a kind of immune regulatory cells, the expres-sion of Tregs in peripheral blood and tumor tissue could reflect to the state of thesystemic and local immune function in patients with breast cancer and assess the progress of tumor. Interfering the expression of Tregs, is expected to become a newtarget in tumor immunotherapy.