The Detection Of CD4~+CD25~+Foxp3~+Regulatory T Cells In Patients With Oral Cancer And Its Clinical Significance

Objective：CD4+CD25+Foxp3~+regulatory T cells is a unique part in T-cellpopulation, plays an important role in the coordination of autoimmune andimmune suppression. With the rise of research, the study of such cells fromthe immune tolerance, transplantation immunology, gradually develop intotumor immunity, Treg is a key factor in the formation of tumor immunetolerance, many scientists focus on understanding its mechanisms of action, inorder to regulate its function and apply to clinical treatment. The purpose ofthis experiment is to compare the proportion of regulatory T cells in peripheralblood of healthy controls, patients with precancerous lesions or oral squamouscell carcinoma, and in the normal oral mucosa, precancerous lesions,oralsquamous cell carcinoma tissues, to analysis its relationship with clinical andpathological features, their clinical significance is also discussed.Methods：The objects in experimental group include12cases of patientswith precancerous lesions (including oral lichen planus and leukoplakia) and30cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma, all patients who are newlydiagnosed, have not received surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy andimmune therapy, without diabetes, autoimmune diseases, hematopoieticsystem diseases and other malignancies, do not take glucocorticoids andnon-steroidal drugs. Select10healthy volunteers served as control group.Collect peripheral blood specimens of all the experimental group and controlgroup in the morning with an empty stomach, CD4~+CD25~+Foxp3~+regulatory Tcells and mononuclear cells of CD80, CD86and HLA-DR expression aredetected in peripheral blood by flow cytometry; tissues from surgicalspecimens of the experimental group patients and control group (mucous cystperipheral normal tissue), are embedded in paraffin, sliced, and determine theinfiltration of Foxp3~+regulatory T cells by immunohistochemistry. The experimental data are statistically analyzed with SPSS13.0software, tocompare groups of different clinical stages, pathological differentiation, age,gender, and to understand the correlation between CD4+CD25+Foxp3~+regulatory T cells and the mononuclear cells of CD80+CD86+,CD80+HLA-DR+and CD86+HLA-DR+expression.Results：1, The proportion of CD4~+CD25~+Foxp3~+T lymphocytes in CD4+Tlymphocyte in the normal control group, precancerous lesions and oralsquamous cell carcinoma I+II, III+IV are0.57±0.15%,1.36±0.68%,2.80±0.90%,5.09±1.72%, the group difference is statistically significant (P=0.000), the proportion of CD4~+CD25~+Foxp3~+T lymphocyte in normal controlgroup and precancerous lesions are the lowest,oral squamous cell carcinoma I+II take second place,oral squamous cell carcinoma III+IV is the highest.The costimulatory molecules CD80+CD86+expression in the mononuclearcells decreases in the normal control group, precancerous lesions and oralsquamous cell carcinoma, CD80+HLA-DR+and CD86+HLA-DR+cells in thenormal control group and precancerous lesions show no significant differences,are higher than the oral squamous cell carcinoma.2,The proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3~+regulatory T cells and theexpression rate of CD80~+CD86~+, CD80~+HLA-DR~+and CD86~+HLA~-DR~+aretested by a linear correlation analysis, the obtained correlation coefficients are-0.512,-0.430,-0.461, all of which are statistically significant, that is, theproportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3~+T lymphocytes in CD4+T lymphocyte andCD80+CD86+, CD80+HLA-DR+and CD86+HLA-DR+expression level inperipheral blood shows a negative linear correlation. The expression levels ofCD4+CD25+, CD4~+CD25~+Foxp3~+, CD80~+CD86~+, CD80~+HLA~-DR~+andCD86+HLA-DR+in different ages, gender and other individual factors inprecancerous lesions and oral squamous cell carcinoma group show noobvious difference.3,Foxp3expression is not found in normal oral mucosa, in oralsquamous cell carcinoma it mainly distribute in the lamina propria tumor interstitial. By statistical analysis, the Foxp3~+regulatory T cells inprecancerous lesions is least, the well-differentiated and moderatelydifferentiated oral squamous cell carcinoma followed, poorly differentiatedoral squamous cell carcinoma is most. Of different ages, gender and otherindividual factor, the expression level of Foxp3~+regulatory T cells inprecancerous lesions and oral squamous cell carcinoma, is no significantdifference.Conclusion：1,The proportion of CD4~+CD25~+Foxp3~+regulatory T cells in peripheralblood gradually increased as the lesion progresses, and individuals of differentages, gender and other factors are unrelated, it is closely related to immunesystem suppression in the oral cancer patients.2,Co-stimulatory molecules of CD80, CD86and HLA-DR expressionlevel reduce in peripheral blood of patients with oral cancer, suggesting that Tcell activation signal conduction disturbances, which are negatively correlatedwith the proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3~+regulatory T cells.3,Foxp3~+regulatory T cells in local tumor tissue of patients with oralcancer increased significantly, suggesting that malignant local immunedysfunction relates to the infiltration of Foxp3~+regulatory T cells in the tumormicroenvironment, which is negatively correlated with the degree of tumordifferentiation.4,The detection of CD4~+CD25~+Foxp3~+regulatory T cells in the peripheralblood and tumor tissue of patients with oral cancer, contributes to assess theanti-tumor immunity levels,disease progress and prognosis.