Patients with early-stage myelodysplastic syndromes show increased frequency of CD4+CD25+CD127(low) regulatory T cells.
Regulatory T cells (T(reg)) have often been ascribed a role in the pathophysiology of several neoplastic diseases considering their potential ability to suppress anti-tumor immunity. This is particularly the case in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), which are clonal hematologic disorders characterized by marked immune dysregulation. We analyzed T(reg) frequencies in a cohort of 36 patients with early-stage MDS using a flow-cytometric approach based on the concomitant expression of CD25 and CD127. MDS patients showed a higher frequency of CD4+CD25(high)+CD127(low) T(reg) than healthy controls (1.51 vs. 1.14%), with no specific effect of patient- and disease-related factors. Our data point to impaired anti-tumor immunity in patients with MDS, even in the early stage, which has already been noted in other clonal disorders.
Hematology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Italy. cfozza@uniss.it
Claudio
C
Fozza
Francesco
F
Longu
Salvatore
S
Contini
Antonio
A
Galleu
Patrizia
P
Virdis
Silvana
S
Bonfigli
Marco
M
Murineddu
Attilio
A
Gabbas
Maurizio
M
Longinotti
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000276:immunology; D053699:Interleukin-7 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000276:immunology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*
C508017:IL2RA protein, human; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit; D053699:Interleukin-7 Receptor alpha Subunit