Introduction: The impact of tumor cells on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in cancer development is not yet clarified. Our study analyzed the distribution and prognostic value of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver metastases (LM).
Material and methods: Archival tissue specimens of 35 HCC and 39 LM patients were immunohistochemically processed. The number of intratumoral (IT) and peritumoral (PT) CD4+ and CD8+ T cells was quantitatively analyzed.
Results: We noted large variances of T lymphocyte subpopulations. Similar number of CD4+ and CD8+ lym-phocytes was present in HCC, whereas in LM the number of CD8+ cells was approximately two times higher than CD4+ lymphocytes. A significant prevalence of T cells in PT over IT areas was observed. The prognostic value was demonstrated only for PT CD8+ lymphocytes in LM, their reduced number being associated with shorter survival.
Conclusions: The differences between proportions of T lymphocytes within tumor and its environment might be explained by proapoptotic effect of cancer cells on TILs.
Keywords: Tc cells; Th cells; hepatocellular carcinoma; liver metastases; prognostic factors.