ACTIVATION OF CYTOTOXIC AND NATURAL-KILLER T-CELL SYSTEM IN PATIENTS WITH HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA AND CIRRHOSIS

The immune response in liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is receiving renewed attention in consideration of the possible treatmen t with biological response modifiers. The aim of this study was to eva luate whether cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma induce any modifi cation in peripheral lymphocyte subsets. Lymphocytes were evaluated (n umber/percentage) in 61 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 35 wit h cirrhosis and 24 healthy controls. Using flow cytometry, 10 lymphocy te subpopulations were assayed, plus the CD4/CD8 ratio. Results demons trated no change in the number of lymphocytes; cirrhosis and hepatocel lular carcinoma patients had significantly more HLA-DR+ (p=0.001) and CD3t/HLA-DR+ (activated T) (p=0.002) and fewer CD3+ (mature T) (p=0.02 ) cells than controls; hepatocellular carcinoma patients had significa ntly more CD3+/CD56+/CD16- (cytotoxic non-MHC restricted T cells) and CD25+ (IL-2 receptor positive cells). If the percentages of all cells with cytotoxic-T activity were pooled, a significant increase (p=0.03) was seen in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. In conclusion, in cont rast to previous data, hepatocellular carcinoma patients reveal an inc reased number of cytotoxic non-MHC restricted T cells.