Abstract:

Objective

To investigate the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ T regulatory(Treg)cells in the peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer.

Methods

A total of 68 samples of peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer were collected on the 1st day before neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the 10th day after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.The proportion of Treg,CD3⁺,CD4⁺and CD8⁺ T cells in peripheral blood in the total amount of T cells was detected by flow cytometry.Independent-sample t test or paired t test was used for the quantitative data analysis.

Results

The percentage of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood of the breast cancer patients before chemotherapy(4.77±0.76)%was significantly higher than that(0.68%±0.36)%in the healthy doners(t=21.176,P=0.000).The proportion of Treg cells in T lymphocytes was significantly decreased from(4.77±0.76)% before neoadjuvant chemotherapy to(1.59±0.58)% after neoadjuvant chemotherapy(t=19.041,P=0.000);but CD4⁺/CD8⁺ was significantly increased from(1.19±0.43)%before neoadjuvant chemotherapy to(1.95±0.72)%after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (t=8.280,P=0.000).The treg cells in the chemotherapy-effective group were significantly decreased compared with the chemotherapy-ineffective group,with a statistical difference between the two groups(t=8.227,P=0.000).

Conclusions

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy can regulate the immune-tolerance of breast cancer patients,and improve their immune function.Neoadjuvant chemotherapy may inhibit tumor through reducing Treg cells in the peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer.

Key words: Breast neoplasms, Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, CD4⁺ CD25⁺Foxp3⁺regulatory T cells