title: NKT-like cells are expanded in solid tumour patients.
abstract: CD3+ CD56+ NKT-like cells have been shown to produce substantial amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines and to mediate lysis of malignant cells. Using flow cytometry, we evaluated the absolute NKT-like cell count in peripheral blood from individuals in a reference population and the median number was 0.085 x 10(9)/l. The average number of NKT-like cells in patients with disseminated cancer was 2.65 fold higher than in the reference population. The number of CD3+ CD56+ cells in solid tumour patients who achieved complete remission was comparable to the reference population. In breast cancer patients with initially (prior to therapy) increased number of NKT-like cells, we observed a trend toward longer disease-free survival. Thus we conclude that CD3+ CD56+ NKT-like cells have potential to suppress tumour evasion and are expanded in peripheral blood of some epithelial tumour patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno, Czech Republic. dubska@mou.cz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zdrazilova-Dubska
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Valik
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Budinska
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frgala
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bacikova
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Demlova
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000276:immunology; D019002:CD56 Antigen / Q000276:immunology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets; D055611:Natural Killer T-Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D017252:CD3 Complex; D019002:CD56 Antigen