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. 2022 Feb 10;10(2):342.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare10020342.

Persistent Changes of Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte Subsets in Patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Ana Caruntu  1   2 , Liliana Moraru  1   2 , Mihaela Surcel  3 , Adriana Munteanu  3   4 , Daniel Octavian Costache  5 , Cristiana Tanase  6   7 , Carolina Constantin  3   8 , Cristian Scheau  9 , Monica Neagu  3   4   8 , Constantin Caruntu  9   10
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Persistent Changes of Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte Subsets in Patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Ana Caruntu et al. Healthcare (Basel). .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common cancer with high morbidity and mortality. Alterations of antitumor immune responses are involved in the development of this malignancy, and investigation of immune changes in the peripheral blood of OSCC patients has aroused the interest of researchers.

Methods: In our study, we assessed the proportions of CD3+ total T lymphocytes, CD3+CD4+ helper T lymphocytes, CD3+CD8+ suppressor/cytotoxic T lymphocytes, CD3-CD19+ total B lymphocytes, and CD3-CD16+CD56+ NK cells in the peripheral blood of OSCC patients.

Results: The data obtained both pre- and post-therapy showed a similar level of total CD3+ T lymphocytes in OSCC patients and control subjects, pinpointing the stability of this immune parameter. On the other hand, pre-therapeutic data showed a lower proportion of helper T lymphocytes (CD4+), a significantly higher level of cytotoxic/suppressive T lymphocytes (CD8+), and a much lower CD4+ T lymphocyte/CD8+ T lymphocyte ratio compared to control subjects. Conversely, evaluation of circulating NK (CD16+) cells showed a markedly higher pre-therapeutic level compared to the control group.

Conclusions: Our results related to immune changes in the peripheral blood add new information to this complex universe of connections between immuno-inflammatory processes and carcinogenesis.

Keywords: flow cytometry; head and neck cancer; lymphocyte subpopulations; peripheral circulation; squamous cell carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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