Th17/Treg及其相关细胞因子在结肠癌中的表达并与肿瘤分期的相关性

研究结肠癌患者肿瘤组织中Th17细胞、Treg细胞及患者外周血中相关细胞因子的表达水平,探讨其表达与肿瘤分期的相关性及可能机制。运用流式细胞分析(FACS)技术检测30例结肠癌肿瘤组织及癌旁正常组织中Th17细胞及Treg细胞的比例;采用逆转录聚合酶链反应技术(RT-PCR)检测20例结肠癌患者外周血中Th17、Treg相关细胞因子IL-23和IL-10的表达水平。结果显示结肠癌肿瘤组织中Th17细胞和Treg细胞的比例明显高于癌旁正常组织(P<0.05),进展期肿瘤组织中Treg细胞的比例高于早期(P<0.05),而Th17细胞的比例较早期无明显差异(P>0.05),进展期肿瘤组织中Th17/Treg细胞的比例比早期偏低(P<0.05)。结肠癌患者外周血中IL-23、IL-10的mRNA水平升高,与健康对照组差异明显(P<0.05),且进展期与早期结肠癌IL-10mRNA的表达水平差异显著(P<0.05),而IL-23mRNA在两组间无明显差异(P>0.05)。随着结肠癌病程的进展,肿瘤组织内Th17细胞及Treg细胞的比例逐渐升高,且Treg细胞比Th17细胞升高更加明显。相关细胞因子IL-23和IL-10在患者外周血中的变化趋势和Th17、Treg细胞在肿瘤组织中的变化趋势相一致,提示Th17、Treg细胞在结肠癌的表达可能与肿瘤免疫微环境中相关的细胞因子调节有关。

The expression of Th17/Treg cells and related cytokines in colon cancer and its relationship with clinical stage

To investigate distribution of Th17 cells and Treg cells in colon cancer tumor tissues and expression of related cytokines in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PMBC),and observe the relationship with its clinical stage,the frequency of Th17 cells and Treg cells as a percentage of total CD4+T cells in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes(TIL) and non-tumor infiltrating lymphocytes(NIL) from 30 colon cancer patients were evaluated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting(FACS) analysis.The transcription factor expression level of Th17 and Treg cells-related cytokines,IL-23 and IL-10,in PMBC from 20 patients and 20 healthy volunteers were detected using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).The frequency of Th17 cells and Treg cells in TIL was significantly higher than that in NIL in the same cohorts(P<0.05).The frequency of Treg cells in advanced disease was significantly higher than that in early disease(P<0.05),while the frequency of Th17 cellsin advanced colon cancer patients was not obvious differences than early disease(P>0.05).The ratio of Th17/Treg cells in TIL from patients with advanced disease was significantly lower than early disease(P<0.05).IL-23 and IL-10 was highly expressed in peripheral blood of colon cancer patients with healthy control group(P<0.05).IL-10 mRNA expression levels was significant difference between advanced disease and early disease(P<0.05),while IL-23 mRNA between the two groups had no significant difference(P>0.05).From these observations,it is indicated that Th17 cells and Treg cells in TIL is gradually increased with disease progression,and Treg cells increased more obviously than Th17 cells.The trend of changes of related cytokines IL-23 and IL-10 in the peripheral blood of colon cancer was the agreement with that of Th17 cells and Treg cells in tumor tissue.The Th17 cells and Treg cells in colon cancer may be associated with tumor immunity in involvement related cytokine regulation.