3. Results
3.1 An increased proportion of Treg cells in peripheral blood of
patients with primary HCC
The percentage of Treg cells (CD25+,
CD127+ Low) in Th cells (CD3+,
CD4+) was 11.26 ± 1.31% in HCC patients and 7.32
±1.63% in healthy control group. The proportion of Treg cells in
peripheral blood of HCC patients was significantly higher than that of
healthy control group (P < 0.05).
3.2 The association between the peripheral Treg cells proportion and
clinical characteristics of HCC
The peripheral Treg cell proportion in HCC patients was associated with
tumor stage, AFP, tumor size and tumor encapsulation. The proportion of
Treg cells in peripheral blood of HCC patients at stage C was higher
than that of patients at stage B. The Treg cells proportion in AFP
positive (> 20 ng/mL) HCC patients was higher than that in
AFP negative patients. In addition, the larger the tumor size
(> 8cm), the higher the Treg cell proportion in peripheral
blood. According to the imaging findings and DSA tumor staining, the
Treg proportion in HCC patients without tumor encapsulation was higher
than that in HCC patients with tumor encapsulation (P < 0.05)
(Table 3). Analysis showed that metastasis or vascular invasion was not
positively correlated with the Treg cell proportion(P>0.05).
Table 3 The association between the Treg cell proportion with clinical
characteristics of HCC