Combination of intratumoral invariant natural killer T cells and interferon-gamma is associated with prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma after curative resection.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prognostic value of intratumoral invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative resection.


METHODS
Expression of TRAV10, encoding the Vα24 domain of iNKT cells, and IFN-γ mRNA were assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in tumor from 224 HCC patients undergoing curative resection. The prognostic value of these two and other clinicopathologic factors was evaluated.


RESULTS
Either intratumoral iNKT cells and IFN-γ alone or their combination was an independent prognostic factor for OS (P = 0.001) and RFS (P = 0.001) by multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis. Patients with concurrent low levels of iNKT cells and IFN-γ had a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.784 for OS and 2.673 for RFS. The areas under the curve of iNKT cells, IFN-γand their combination were 0.618 vs 0.608 vs 0.654 for death and 0.591 vs 0.604 vs 0.633 for recurrence respectively by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The prognosis was the worst for HCC patients with concurrent low levels of iNKT cells and IFN-γ, which might be related with more advanced pTNM stage and more vascular invasion.


CONCLUSIONS
Combination of intratumoral iNKT cells and IFN-γ is a promising independent predictor for recurrence and survival in HCC, which has a better power to predict HCC patients' outcome compared with intratumoral iNKT cells or IFN-γ alone.
Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
Yong-Sheng
YS
Xiao
Qiang
Q
Gao
Xiang-Nan
XN
Xu
Yi-Wei
YW
Li
Min-Jie
MJ
Ju
Ming-Yan
MY
Cai
Chen-Xin
CX
Dai
Jie
J
Hu
Shuang-Jian
SJ
Qiu
Jian
J
Zhou
Jia
J
Fan
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D055611:Natural Killer T-Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies
D007371:Interferon-gamma