Change of the peripheral blood immune pattern and its correlation with prognosis in patients with liver cancer treated by sorafenib

Chang-Jiang Lei; Jia-Ni Liu; Rong Wu; Zhi-Xiong Long; Jiang-Zhou Zhang; Dan Tao; Yan-Ping Liu

doi:10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.04.019

Change of the peripheral blood immune pattern and its correlation with prognosis in patients with liver cancer treated by sorafenib

Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2016 Jun;9(6):592-6. doi: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.04.019. Epub 2016 Apr 15.

Authors

Chang-Jiang Lei¹, Jia-Ni Liu², Rong Wu¹, Zhi-Xiong Long³, Jiang-Zhou Zhang⁴, Dan Tao⁴, Yan-Ping Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Tumor Laboratory, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430050, Hubei, China.
² Geriatric Department, the Central Hospital of Wuhan, Wuhan, 430014, Hubei, China.
³ Oncology Department, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430050, Hubei, China. Electronic address: hkfc98@tom.com.
⁴ Oncology Department, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430050, Hubei, China.

PMID: 27262073
DOI: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.04.019

Abstract

Objective: To study the change of the peripheral blood immune pattern and its correlation with prognosis in patients with liver cancer after treated by sorafenib.

Methods: Patients with advanced liver cancer admitted in our hospital were enrolled and treated with sorafenib. After two months of the treatment, their peripheral blood was collected. The immune cell subset and cytokines level were determined by flow cytometry and luminex technology. According to the reaction expressed by patients towards sorafenib, patients were divided into the response group and the no response group. The changes of the peripheral blood immune pattern and its correlation with prognosis of patients in the two groups were compared.

Results: Before and after treatment of sorafenib, there was no significant difference in the ratios of T cells, NK cells and their subtypes in peripheral blood of patients between the two groups; while after treatment the ratio of B cells and regulatory B cells (Breg) of patients in the response group was significant higher than that of the no response group (P < 0.05), and the prognosis conditions of patients with decreased ratio of Breg cells were better than other patients after undergoing chemotherapy. The levels of plasma cytokines IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL17, FIL-3L, IFN-γ, TNF-α, MCP-1 and VEGF showed no significant differences.

Conclusions: After treatment of sorafenib, the prognosis conditions of patients of advanced liver cancer with a reduced Breg ratio are better than patients with an unaltered or increased Breg ratio. The ratio of Breg in peripheral blood may be considered as early biological indicator for the prediction of the curative effects of sorafenib.

Keywords: Chemotherapy; Liver cancer; Prognosis; Regulatory B cells; Sorafenib.