Aim: This study attempted to investigate the features of Treg cells in peripheral blood and liver of patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 30 HCC patients and 30 healthy control subjects, then were quantitatively analyzed for Treg cells by using flow cytometry. Liver infiltrating lymphocytes (LIL) isolated from resected tumor samples of 7 HCC patients were simultaneously analyzed.
Results: There was a significant increase in the frequency of peripheral Treg cells in HCC patients compared with healthy controls (P < 0.01). Furthermore, we also found that there was a higher frequency of infiltrated Treg within tumor samples than the counterpart in non-tumor region (P < 0.05). In addition, CD4(+) CD25(low) and CD4(+) CD25(-) T cells isolated from resected tumor samples were found to express higher level of FOXP3 molecules.
Conclusion: Our findings showed that a dramatic increasing increase of Treg in peripheral blood and liver tissue of HCC patients may be associated with the significant increased development of Treg, which favors the disease progression through the suppressive effect of Treg on host immune response in these patients.