The prognostic value of cellular immunity function in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To study the changes of cellular immunity function in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its correlation with disease severity. Methods T lymphocyte subsets and CD28 co-stimulation molecule in CD8+ T cells in 22 HCC patients were detected using three-color flow cytometry. Serum interleukin-2 (IL-2), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF β1), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were determined by ELISA and radioimmunoassay. A group of 30 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver cirrhosis (LC), or normal adults (NC) served as controls. Results Compared with NC, the number of CD8+CD28- T cells increased and CD8+CD28+ T cells decreased in patients with HCC. The number of CD4+ T cells, CD4+/CD8+ ratios, IL-2 level all decreased and CD8+ T cells, IL-6, TGF β1 levels all increased in patients with HCC, LC and CHB. The CD4+ T cells, CD4+/CD8+ ratios and IL-2 level in patients with HCC were lower than those with CHB. Serum IL-6 and TGF β1 in patients with HCC were higher than those with LC and CHB. The levels of IL-6 and TGF β1 correlated with the stages of the tumors. Conclusions HCC patients have a cellular immunity dysfunction. Rectifying the imbalanced function could be a potential way for treating HCC. Measurement of these factors would be useful for early diagnosis and evaluating the prognoses of these patients.