Circulating and Tumor-Infiltrating Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cell Subset in Chinese Patients with Extranodal NK/T Cell Lymphoma

• Main Author: Rou-Jun Peng, Zhou-Feng Huang, Yi-Lan Zhang, Zhong-Yu Yuan, Yi Xia, Wen-Qi Jiang, Yi-Xin Zeng, Jiang Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ivyspring International Publisher 2011-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Biological Sciences
• Online Access: http://www.biolsci.org/v07p1027.htm

<p>Foxp3⁺ regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) usually act as an immune suppressor and correlate with poorer survival in malignancies. This study aims to investigate the distribution and characterization of Foxp3⁺ subset in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and tumor tissues from extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma (ENKTL). Our study showed the percentage of Foxp3⁺ subset from PBMC was significantly higher than that of healthy individuals (P&#60;0.001). The Foxp3⁺ subset from PBMCs expressed CD45RO, CTLA4, GITR, CCR7, and had an IL-10^highIFN&#947;⁺TGF&#946;⁺IL-2^lowIL-17^low cytokine secreting phenotype. Interestingly, the existence of EBV antigen-specific CD8⁺Foxp3⁺ Tregs was discovered in ENKTL. Furthermore, the high density of Foxp3⁺ TILs was associated with improved progression-free survival (PFS) in ENKTL patients (P&#60;0.05). Collectively, our study implicates that EBV antigens could induce antigen-specific CD8⁺Foxp3⁺ Tregs in ENKTL, and Foxp3⁺ TILs is an independent factor for PFS in ENKTL.</p>