Effects of propofol on differentiation of Th cells from lung cancer patients

Objective To investigate the effects of propofol on differentiation of Th cells in peripheral blood of non-small-cell lung cancer patients. Methods Thirty patients (median age 57 years, ASA Ⅰ～Ⅱ) scheduled for underwent pulmonary lobectomy were randomly allocated to two groups (group P and group Ⅰ). Anesthesia was induced in group P (n=15) with propofol 2 mg/kg and maintained with propofol (7.81±2.19) mg/(kg·h), whereas in the group I (n=15) anesthesia was induced with etomidate 0.3 mg/kg and maintained with isoflurane [median end-expiratory concentration of isoflurane (1.41±0.24) %]. Venous blood samples for measurement of CD4+CD28+ were taken at pre-induction (T0), 10 min after induction (T1), 1 h post-incision (T2), anesthetics administration immediately stopping (T3), 1 h postoperation (T4), and 24 h postoperation (T5) . Three color staining and flow cytometry werre used to detect the expression of CD28 on subpopulations of T cells. Measurements of serum IL-12, IFN-γ, and IL-4 concentrations (by ELISA) and cortisol levels (by RIA) were carried out. Results Compared with T0, CD4+CD28+ and IFN-γ in group P at T4,5 were increased significantly (P0.05). By T5, IL-12 and IFN-γ / IL-4 ratio in group P showed a significant increase (P0.05) compared with the T0 and T4, while in group I there were no significant changes in both values. Increased of serum IL-4 levels were found in both groups, but there was no significant difference statistically. Serum cortisol levels increased significantly in both groups at T1～5 (P0.05 or 0.01), and there was a more significant increase in group I compared with group P (P0.05). Conclusion These findings show that propofol exerts a positive effect on the expression of CD28 costimulatory molecule of peripheral T lymphocytes and contributes to peripheral Th1 cells differentiation.