The Analysis of T Lymphocyte Subsets Using FCM to the Peripheral Blood of Patients with Esophageal or Cardiac Carcinoma

Objective To measure the state of cellular immunity of patients with esophageal or cardiac carcinoma by flow cytometry.Methods Venous blood was obtained from 145 patients with esophageal or cardiac carcinoma and 18 healthy volunteers. Percentages of CD3 + ,CD4 + ,CD8 + ,NK cell and CD4 + /CD8 + ratio were measured by flow cytometry. and explored the relationship between clinical stage and T lymphocyte subproportion.Results Compared to controls, 145 patients with esophageal or cardiac carcinoma had significant higher percentages of CD8 + T cells. No differences in the percentages of CD3 + , CD4 + T cells and the CD4 + /CD8 + ratio between patients and normal controls were observed. Although there were not differences in the percentages of CD3 + , CD4 + and CD8 + T cells between the stage 0 andⅠand the controls, However, the patients who had advanced carcinoma(stage Ⅱ,Ⅲ,Ⅳ,) had significant higher percentages of CD8 + T cells and lower CD4 + T cells than that of the controls. The tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage and lymphocyte node involvement was not related to the T-cell subsets.Conclusion Analyses of T Lymphocyte subset can provide useful information on the function of the patients with esophageal or cardiac carcinoma.