Abstract:

Objective  To clarify the relationship between infiltration by CD4⁺/CD8⁺ T lymphocytes and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC）. Methods  A total of 215 HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy were examined by immunohistochemistry to detect infiltration of CD4⁺/CD8⁺ T lymphocytes in tumor tissues. Disease-free survival and overall survival were compared between patients with or without such infiltration. Results  Of all patients，60.9% showed high CD4⁺ T lymphocyte infiltration，while the remaining 39.1% showed low infiltration. Rates of disease-free survival and overall survival were significantly higher among patients with high infiltration than among patients with low infiltration（P=0.038 and 0.015，respectively）. Of all patients，34.9% showed high CD8⁺ T lymphocyte infiltration and 65.1% showed low infiltration. Rates of disease-free survival and overall survival were significantly higher among patients with high infiltration than among patients with low infiltration（P=0.047 and 0.033，respectively）. Conclusion  Low infiltration of CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ T lymphocytes into tumors may relate to poor prognosis of HCC patients.

Key words: Liver neoplasms, CD4⁺ T lymphocytes, CD8⁺ T lymphocytes, Overall survival, Prognosis