Effects of transarterial chemoembolization on the immunological function of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Guo, Jingjing; Wang, Saixia; Han, Yujing; Jia, Zhongyuan; Wang, Runchao
- Source
- Oncology Letters. Jul2021, Vol. 22 Issue 1, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
- Subject
- *CHEMOEMBOLIZATION
*MONONUCLEAR leukocytes
*HEPATOCELLULAR carcinoma
*APOPTOSIS
- Language
- ISSN
- 1792-1074
The present study aimed to investigate the effects of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) on the immune function of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 114 patients with HCC were selected and their peripheral blood was collected before and 1 month after TACE treatment. Flow cytometry and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR were performed to analyze the changes in immune function in patients before and after treatment. Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted for survival analysis. The programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) expression before TACE treatment were significantly higher in patients with poor TACE response compared with those patients with well response. Higher PD-L1 mRNA expression in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells after TACE predicted a superior prognosis. After TACE treatment, the proportion of CD4+/CD8+ cells were decreased while the expression levels of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) were significantly increased. To conclude, TACE could reduce the proportion of CD4+/CD8+ cells and improve the mRNA expression levels of PD1 in patients with HCC. The expression levels of PD1 and PD-L1 were closely related to the therapeutic effect of TACE and the prognosis of patients with HCC. TACE combined with immunotherapy may have potential clinical value for patients with HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]