Prognostic significance of natural killer cell infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma
10.3321/j.issn:1000-467X.2009.11.014
- VernacularTitle:自然杀伤细胞在原发性肝细胞肝癌中的浸润及其与预后的关系
- Author:
Zhu LING-YAN
1
;
Zhou JIA
;
Liu YAN-ZHANG
;
Pan WEI-DONG
Author Information
1. 中山大学
- Keywords:
liver neoplasm;
natural killer cell;
infiltration;
prognosis
- From:Chinese Journal of Cancer
2009;28(11):1198-1202
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Background and Objective: Several studies have Shown the correlation of high numbers of tumor-infiltrating natural killer (NK) cells with a good prognosis for cancer patients.This study was to investigate the impact of NK cell infiltration on the survival and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)after resection. Methods: The proportion of infiltrating NK cells of HCC patients was measured using flow cytometry,and the expression of CD56~+ (NK) cells was investigated using immunohistochemistry. Prognostic values of intratumoral and peritumoral NK cell densities were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression. Results: The level of NK cells was significantly lower in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) of HCC patients than in nontumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (NIL) [(11.8±8.1 )% vs. (18.0±7.9)%, P=0.002]. The density of NK cells was also significantly lower in cancer nests than in peritumoral lesions (2.3±2.6 vs. 8.5±4.5 cells per field, P＜0.001).Patients with low intratumoral NK cells had shorter disease-free survival (P=0.027) and overall survival (P=0.005) than patients with high intratumoral NK cells. In contrast, NK cells in the peritumoral area showed no prognostic significance for either disease-free survival or overall survival. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis showed that intratumoral NK cell density was an independent prognostic fator of prolonged overall survival (hazard ratio=2.658,P=0.019). Conclusion:Low NK cells infiltration could predict poor prognosis in patients with HCC.
