Daniele Saverino

Ezio Gianetta

Francesca Milintenda-Floriani

Rita Simone

SAVERINO, DANIELE

GIANETTA, EZIO

MILINTENDA, FRANCESCA

Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Università di Genova

Regulatory T cells is increased in peripheral blood and tumor microenvironment of patients with colorectal cancer.

Saverino, Daniele

Simone, Rita

Giannetta, Ezio

Milintenda-Floriani, Francesca

Firenze University Press: E-Journals

IJAE Vol. 115, n. 1/2 (Supplement), 2010
155
Regulatory T cells is increased in peripheral blood  
and tumor microenvironment of patients with 
colorectal cancer
Daniele Saverino1, Rita Simone1, Ezio Giannetta2, Francesca Milintenda-Floriani1
1 Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Anatomy, Italy
2 Department of Surgery, University of Genova, Italy
The immune system spontaneously responds to tumor-associated antigens in pe-
ripheral blood of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Regulatory T cells (Treg) play an im-
portant role influencing the interaction between the tumor and immune system and thus 
the course of malignant diseases. However, the function of Tregs in the development of 
T cell responses and on the clinical course of CRC is not clear. Experimental tumor mod-
els in mice revealed that regulatory T cells inhibit antitumor immune responses. The aim 
of the this study was to demonstrate the possible involvement of Treg in immune
system impairment in patients with CRC. To this and, the phenotypes of lympho-
cytes, particularly Treg (CD4+CD25+CD152+FoxP3+), were analyzed in peripheral blood 
and in situ in 10 patients with gastrointestinal malignancies.
Compared with healthy volunteers, patients with CRC had a higher proportion of 
Treg in peripheral blood. In addition, Treg infiltration was significantly higher in CRC 
than in hyperplastic or healthy colon. Finally, depletion of Treg from peripheral blood 
mononuclear cells of CRC patients unmasked CD4+ T cell responses, at least in an in 
vitro system, as observed by IFN-γ and IL-2 release, as well as proliferative capability, to 
the tumor associated antigen CEA.
These data show that Treg capable of inhibiting tumor associated antigen-specific 
immune responses are enriched in patients with CRC and that Treg could be related 
to immunosuppression and tumor progression in these patients. This finding suggests 
that the use of immunomodulatory therapy (also by manipulating Treg) to treat CRC 
patients may be an effective strategy.
Key words
Regulatory T cells; colorectal cancer


Regulatory T cells is increased in peripheral blood and tumor microenvironment of patients with colorectal cancer

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Regulatory T cells is increased in peripheral blood and tumor microenvironment of patients with colorectal cancer.

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Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Università di Genova

Firenze University Press: E-Journals