Clinical significance of circulating immune cells in left- and right-sided colon cancer

Abstract

BackgroundLeft-sided and right-sided colon cancers (LCCs and RCCs, respectively) differ in their epidemiology, pathogenesis, genetic and epigenetic alterations, molecular pathways and prognosis. Notably, immune response gene expression profiles have been shown to differ between patients with LCC and patients with RCC. The immune system plays an important role in tumor immunosurveillance, and there is increasing evidence that peripheral blood immune cells have a profound influence on tumor prognosis. This study aimed to determine the clinical significance of circulating immune cells with respect to colon tumor locations.MethodsDifferent types of circulating immune cells were separated and analysed based on their surface markers by flow cytometry. We compared the numbers of dendritic cells (DCs) and T cell subsets in the peripheral blood of 94 patients with RCC or LCC and analysed the proportions of these immune cells in relation to tumor stage, tumor differentiation and lymphatic metastasis.ResultsWe show that at later tumor stages, patients with LCC had higher levels of circulating myeloid DCs (P = 0.049) and plasmacytoid DCs (P = 0.018) than patients with RCC. In poorly differentiated tumors, LCC patients had significantly higher amount of plasmacytoid DCs (P = 0.036), CD4+ memory T (Tm) cells (P = 0.012), CD4+ T cells (P = 0.028), Tm cells (P = 0.014), and regulatory T cells (P = 0.001) than RCC patients. The levels of circulating CD4+ T cells, Tm cells and CD4+ Tm cells were significantly elevated at later stages in patients with LCC or RCC, while these cells decreased in poorly differentiated tumors in patients with RCC. Moreover, CD4+ Tm cell and CD4+ T cell levels are significantly associated with lymph node metastasis in patients with LCC and RCC.DiscussionCirculating immune cells were associated with tumor location, tumor stage and tumor differentiation, and can be used to predict lymphatic metastasis in patients with colon cancer. This variation in systemic immunity could contribute to the differential prognosis of patients with colon cancer.

Retrospective analysis of the efficacy of cytokine‐induced killer cell immunotherapy combined with first‐line chemotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

“…In the subgroup analyses, CIK cell immunotherapy was found to be significantly associated with an improved OS and PFS in patients with metastatic colon cancer, but this association was absent in patients with metastatic rectal cancer. This improvement, or lack thereof, might be explained by the fact that the prognosis and immune microenvironment are different between rectal cancer and colon cancer . Patients with rectal cancer have significantly better prognosis than those with colon cancer, especially for those with stage IV disease, which was also observed in our study.…”

“…This improvement, or lack thereof, might be explained by the fact that the prognosis and immune microenvironment are different between rectal cancer and colon cancer. [34][35][36] Patients with rectal cancer have significantly better prognosis than those with colon cancer, especially for those with stage IV disease, 34 which was also observed in our study. Thus, patients with metastatic rectal cancer might derive some benefit from CIK cell treatment, but this benefit would not be statistically significant.…”

Correlation Between Immune Lymphoid Cells and Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells in Human Colon Cancer

“…Su et al [25] reported the clinical signi cance of circulating immune cells at different colon tumour locations. In the present study, our results showed no correlation between ILC3 percentage and the different tumour regions ( Figure S1B and Table 1).…”

“…Su et al [25] reported that different levels of circulating immune cells are associated with tumour location, stage, differentiation status, and lymphatic metastases in patients with colon cancer.…”

Propofol Promotes Activity and Tumor-Killing Ability of Natural Killer Cells in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Colon Cancer

“…Recurrence and metastasis are the main reasons for poor clinical treatment effects in colon cancer patients [ 4 ]. Studies show that the recurrence and metastasis of colon cancer is a complex multigene, multistage process involving a variety of factors [ 5 , 6 ]. Immune escape is one of the key reasons for the recurrence and metastasis of colon cancer [ 7 ].…”