The Study Of Morphological And Functional Changes Of Dendritic Cells In Human Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVES To study the morphological and functional changes of dendritic cells (DCs) in human breast cancer.METHODS Human breast cancer tissues and relatively normal breast tissues near breast cancer were used in the study. All tissues were fixed with formalin or liquid nitrogen and then sectioned. All sections were dyed with immunohistological method, using primary antibodies of CD1c, S-100, HLA-DR, CD4 and CD8 molecules. After immunohistological dying all the sections were measured with autoimage analyzer and the data were statistically analyzed. RESULTS DCs in the breast cancer tissue decreased in number, have less dendritic projects on the surface, and the projects become shorter and thinner. The values of mean optic density (MOD) and square density (SD) of CDlc+DCs, S-100+DCs, HLA-DR+DCs in breast cancer tissues were lower than those of DCs in normal breast tissues (p<0.05); the values of SD of CD4+T cells and CD8+T cells in the tissues of breast cancer were lower than those of DCs in normal breast tissues (p<0.05).CONCLUSIONS DCs play an important role during the forming and developing process of human breast cancer. Compared to normal tissues, DCs inside breast cancer tissues decreased in number, shape changed; DCs' ability to present antigen and the ability to activate T cells declined.