Evaluations of interferon-γ/interleukin-4 ratio and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio as prognostic indicators in gastric cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
Th2-dominant immunity and high neutrophil/lymphocyte ratios (NLRs) have been reported to reflect tumor progression, and so we examined whether the Th1/Th2 ratio and NLR can act as prognostic indicators or not.


METHODS
Peripheral blood samples were taken within 1 week before and 14 postoperative days after curative gastrectomy using 157 gastric cancer cases for the measurement of both ratios. The proportions of Th1 cells (interferon γ-producing CD4 T cells), Th2 cells (interleukin-4-producing CD4 T cells) were counted by two-color flow cytometry analysis.


RESULTS
There were significant differences in 5-year survival both between the high and low Th1/Th2 ratio groups, and between the high and low NLR groups. The pattern classifications before and after surgery in the Th1/Th2 ratio showed strongly significant differences in 5-year survival. NLR was especially influenced by tumor size, and there was a negative linear correlation between the two ratios before surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
The Th1/Th2 ratio may be a good prognostic indicator and may also be a promising marker for estimating the effectiveness of surgery. NLR may also be a good prognostic indicator and may be a valid marker of tumor recurrence, and it appeared that some interaction between lymphocytes and neutrophils had occurred.
Ubukata
Hideyuki
H
Fourth Department of Surgery, Tokyo Medical University Ibaraki Medical Center, Ibaraki, Japan. h-ubu@tokyo-med.ac.jp
Motohashi
Gyou
G
Tabuchi
Takanobu
T
Nagata
Hiroyuki
H
Konishi
Satoru
S
Tabuchi
Takafumi
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood*; D007414:Intestinal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology
D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma