Both Sulfentanil And Fentanyl Increase CD4~+CD25~+Foxp3~+Regulatory T Cells In Breast Cancer Patients In Vitro

CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Treg (Tregs) have been shown to inhibit the response of the immune system to tumor and thereby to worsen prognoses in both mice and humans. Interestingly, it has been revealed that there exist some factors especially opioids being able to affect the recovery of cancer patients in a long period. Opioids administration, both perioperative and chronic, has been shown to suppress body immunity. We recently reported that both fentanyl and sulfentanil allow in vitro expansion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Tregfrom healthy subjects and breast cancer patients. In the current study, we show that activation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the presence of different dosage of fentanyl and sulfentanil leads to growth of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Tregs.In addition,a growing quantity of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Tregs has been found following the increasing of fentanyl or sulfentanil concentration. Interestingly, no significant differences have been found between healthy subjects and breast cancer patients. The capacity of fentanyl and sulfentanil to allow growth of functional CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Tregs can be exploited for the design of novel and safe in vitro protocols for cellular immunotherapy in T cell-mediated diseases.