The prognostic significance of peripheral T-lymphocyte subsets and natural killer cells in patients with colorectal cancer.

Background/aims: To evaluate the prognostic significance of preoperative T-lymphocyte subsets ad natural killer (NK) cells and their correlan with other prognostic factors in patients with colorectal cancer who underwent surgical treatment.

Methodology: The numbers of T-lymphocytes and NK cells in the peripheral blood of patients with colorectal carcinoma were counted by flow cytometry, and the correlations between indicators of cellular immunity and clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis of patients after surgical treatment were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results: In the multivariate regression analysis, all potential prognostic factors essentially reflected TNM stage, and tumor resection, NK lymphocyte counts, and peripheral CD3+ and CD4+/CD8+ counts were significant (p < 0.05) independent prognostic indicators of overall survival; patients with higher CD3+, CD4+/CD8+, and NK levels had longer overall survival rates than those with lower CD3+, CD4+/CD8+, and NK levels.

Conclusion: Measurement of cellular immunity in the peripheral blood of patients with colorectal cancer allowed us to identify associations between immune status and clinical outcomes.