Published in:
01-01-2013 | Original article
Increased prevalence of tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells is closely related to their lower sensitivity to H2O2-induced apoptosis in gastric and esophageal cancer
Authors:
Shinichirou Izawa, Kousaku Mimura, Mitsuaki Watanabe, Takanori Maruyama, Yoshihiko Kawaguchi, Hideki Fujii, Koji Kono
Published in:
Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy
|
Issue 1/2013
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Abstract
Purpose and experimental design
Although an increase in regulatory T cells (Tregs) is observed in tumor microenvironments, the underlying mechanism is not fully clarified. Since it was suggested that Tregs showed a lower sensitivity toward oxidative stress in comparison with conventional T cells, in the present study, we investigated the H2O2 production and apoptosis of Tregs in gastric and esophageal cancer tissues, employing flow cytometric analysis using fresh samples (n = 93) and immunohistochemical analysis (n = 203).
Results
The increased tumor-infiltrating Tregs coexisted with elevated H2O2 production according to disease progression. The grade of apoptosis in Tregs was less pronounced than that in conventional T cells, and there was a positive correlation between H2O2 production and the grade of apoptosis in conventional T cells, while there was no correlation between H2O2 production and the grade of apoptosis in Tregs. Moreover, Tregs were less sensitive to H2O2-induced apoptosis compared with conventional T cells in vitro.
Conclusions
We have demonstrated that the increased prevalence of tumor-infiltrating Tregs closely related to their lower sensitivity to H2O2-induced apoptosis.