The influence of TACE on T lymphocyte subsets in patients with primary liver cancer

Objective To investigate the changes of T lymphocyte subsets in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE). Methods A total of40 patients with pathologically-proved HCC(study group) were enrolled in this study. Other 40 healthy volunteers were randomly collected and used as control group. Peripheral blood CD3, CD4 and CD8 T cells as well as CD4/CD8, CD4CD25/CD4 ratio were determined one day before TACE and one, 2, 3 and 4 weeks after TACE were determined in all patients by using flow cytometry assay. The results were statistically analyzed. Results The preoperative peripheral T lymphocyte subsets CD3, CD4 T cells and CD4/CD8 ratio in the study group were significantly lower than those in the control group, while CD8 T cells in the study group were significantly higher than that in the control group(P 0.05). One week after treatment, the indexes of peripheral T lymphocyte subsets in the study group were obviously decreased when compared with the preoperative data(P 0.05), and 4 weeks after the treatment the peripheral T lymphocyte subsets,including CD3, CD4 and CD8 T cells as well as CD4/CD8 ratio, were significantly increased when compared with the preoperative data(P 0.05). The peripheral CD4CD25/CD4 ratio in the study group was much higher than that in the control group. In the study group, the peripheral CD4CD25/CD4 ratio determined at one and2 weeks after the treatment was strikingly increased when compared with preoperative data; and four weeks after the treatment, the peripheral CD4CD25/CD4 ratio was dramatically decreased(P 0.05). Conclusion TACE can improve the immune status of HCC patients.