Abstract
BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the most common malignancies. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the change of lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients and the survival rate. METHODS: Flow cytometry was used to measure the percentages of lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD4+/CD8+, CD19+, CD25+, CD44+, and NK cells) in peripheral blood obtained from 221 patients with primary lung cancer without any treatment and from 96 healthy blood donors as the control group. The result was combined with clinical and follow-up data and statistical analysis was conducted. RESULTS: The levels of CD3+ and CD8+ in the patient group are significantly lower compared with the control group, whereas the levels of CD4+/CD8+, CD19+, CD25+, CD44+, and NK cells are significantly higher (P<0.05). CD8+ is significantly higher in the small cell lung cancer (SCLC) group compared with the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) group. However, CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ are lower in SCLC (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in different stages and differentiation (P>0.05) in the NSCLC group. The level of CD3+ was significantly higher compared with the pre-chemotherapy group, but NK cell, CD19+, and CD44+ were distinctly lower in the post-chemotherapy group (P<0.05). More survival opportunities will be obtained for patients with no increase in CD44+ after chemotherapy (P=0.021), but the other three indices have no obvious influence on survival. CONCLUSIONS: Widespread changes of lymphocyte occur in the peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer. There is a significant correlation between the change of CD44+ and the prognosis after chemotherapy.