Surgical influence of pancreatectomy on the function and count of circulating dendritic cells in patients with pancreatic cancer.
BACKGROUND
Dendritic cells (DCs) are important for an immune surveillance. Myeloid DCs (DC1) are important for an effective antitumor immune system. The function and count of circulating DC1 (cDC1) in hosts with a malignant tumor would be defective. This study focused on analyzing the immunological features of cDC1 in patients with pancreatic cancer during the perioperative period.


METHODS
Thirty-two pancreatic cancer patients who underwent pancreatectomy and 18 age-matched healthy individuals as controls were enrolled in this study. The perioperative cDC count, the stimulatory capacity of cDC1 against allogeneic T cells and TGF-beta1 level in the serum were measured. The cDC count was measured at 12 months after the operation.


RESULTS
The preoperative cDC1/cDC2 ratio, cDC1 count, and stimulatory capacity of cDC1 were impaired in patients in comparison to controls (P<0.05). The serum TGF-beta1 level was significantly higher in patients than controls (P<0.001). The stimulatory capacity of cDC1 recovered after pancreatectomy (P<0.05). The serum TGF-beta1 level significantly decreased after the operation (P<0.05); however, they were still significantly higher than controls (P<0.05). Although the cDC1/cDC2 ratio and the cDC1 count did not increase after the pancreatectomy, they recovered as the controls' level at 12 months after the pancreatectomy in disease-free patients (P<0.05) and the serum TGF-beta1 level in those patients at 12 months after the operation significantly decreased compared with those at the postoperative period (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Surgical resection of pancreatic cancer could be associated with improved cDC1 function. When a patient remained disease free, the recovery of cDC1 counts was observed approximately 12 months after pancreatectomy. Further strategy will be needed to improve immune function in patients with pancreatic cancer.
Takahashi
Kanji
K
Department of Surgery, Kansai Medical University, 10-15, Fumizono, Moriguchi, 570-8507, Japan.
Toyokawa
Hideyoshi
H
Takai
Soichiro
S
Satoi
Sohei
S
Yanagimoto
Hiroaki
H
Terakawa
Naoyoshi
N
Araki
Hiroshi
H
Kwon
A-Hon
AH
Kamiyama
Yasuo
Y
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010180:Pancreatectomy; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000601:surgery*; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000494:pharmacology; D011184:Postoperative Period; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000097:blood; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1
D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; C508960:TGFB1 protein, human; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1