Expression And Significance Of Circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cells In Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Objective:The study aims to examine the level of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (cEPCs) in the peripheral blood of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients and the correlation with the tumor stage.Methods: In this study, 41 patients with biopsy-proven non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients and 16 healthy individuals were recruited. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of them were isolated and detected by flow cytometry.Results:1. The percentage of the CD34~+CD133~+-cells of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was significantly increased in the whole group of NHL(0.13±0.08)% compared with the healthy controls((0.02±0.01)%,p<0.01).In addition, the percentage of the CD309~+-cells within the population of CD34~+CD133~+-cells was measured, thereby defining cEPCs in our study. The proportionof CD309~+cells within the population of CD34~+CD133~+-cells were found significantly increased in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients (13.61±4.15)% than the healthy controls(4.15±1.34)%,(p<0.01).2. Regarding tumor stage, there was a significant increase of CD34~+CD133~+-cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients withⅢ-Ⅳ( 0.21±0.10)% than the patients withⅠ-Ⅱ(0.08±0.05)%(p<0.01) . In the patients withⅠ-Ⅱ,the percentage of CD309~+-cells within the population of CD34~+CD133~+-cells is (8.44±5.10)% .There was still a significant increase the 3. There was no significant difference of the CD34~+CD133~+-cells counts in B-cell Lymphoma(0.15±0.10)% and NK/T-cell Lymphoma(0.10±0.09)%(p>0.05), and the same of the CD309~+-cells within the population of CD34~+CD133~+-cells in B-cell Lymphoma(13.90±5.74)%and NK/T-cell Lymphoma(12.99±5.46)%(p>0.05).4. In the male non-Hodgkin lymphoma ,the percentage of CD34~+CD133~+-cells was (0.14±0.12)%, there was no significant difference in female patients(0.12±0.15)% (p>0.05). There was no significant difference of the proportion the CD309~+-cells in CD34~+CD133~+-cells in male (14.62±1.67)%and female (10.69±3.80)% non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients(p>0.05).Conclusion:Our results show increased cEPCs numbers in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients,and the counts are relate to the tumor stage. The over-expression of cEPCs in non- Hodgkin lymphoma patients may be served as the new the indicators in non-Hodgkin lymphoma.