Research On Effect Of Chemotherapy On Cellular Immunity Of Patients With Malignant Tumor

OBJECTIVE malignant tumor has been a serious problem of common health. Chemotherapy is the one of the main therapeutic means for malignant tumor nowadays. There is close relationship between systemic immunity and pathogenesis of tumor. No enough data are available about the effect of chemotherapy on cellular immunity. Moreover, the known reports about this aspect are controversial. The aims of this study were to detect T lymphocytes subsets and activity of natural killer (NK) cells in peripheral blood from patients with malignant tumor both pre-chemotherapy and post-chemotherapy, to explore the immune status of patients with malignant tumor and the effect of chemotherapy on cellular immunity.METHODS 43 patients with malignant tumor were enrolled, including 18 cases of non-small cell lung cancer, 15 cases of gastric cancer and 10 breast cancer. Each of subjects had accepted 3 periods of chemotherapy. Fresh peripheral bloods from subjects were collected at one day pre-chemotherapy as well as ten days post-chemotherapy. T lymphocytes subsets and NK cells were detected by flow cytometry. The clinical data of patients, such as age, gender and pathologic TNM stage, were collected. Statistical analyses were through method of t test.RESULTS 1. Ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ and levels of CD4+ T lymphocytes and NK cells distinctly reduced at both pre-chemotherapy and post-chemotherapy. On the contrary, CD8+ T lymphocytes increased obviously. There were significantdifferences by comparison with control group.2. Gender and age had not a significant impact on T cell subsets and NK cells. According to TNM classification, as concerning the patients with early stage (stageI and stage II), the levels of CD4+ T lymphocytes, CD8+ T lymphocytes and NK cells and ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ had not significant differences with comparison of control, whereas, those from patients with advanced stage (stagellland stageIV) had obvious differences with comparison of control group.3. After chemotherapy, the CD4 + T cells and NK cells were lower in subjects than pre-chemotherapy, but those reductions were not statistical significance. However, CD8+ T cells were obviously lower, while ratio of CD4 to CD8 was higher. With comparison of those pre-chemotherapy, there were significant differences.CONCLUSIONS the immunity function of patients with malignant tumor was lower to a different extent. Chemotherapy could partially ameliorate the immunity function of those patients. Flow cytometry is rapid, sensitive and accurate means for detecting function of cellular immunity. It has great value for judging prognosis and guiding therapy.