Affiliations: [a] Cancer Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital and Chinese PLA Medical School, Beijing, China | [b] International Joint Cancer Institute, The Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China | [c] School of Medcine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding authors: Yajun Guo and Kexing Fan, Cancer Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital and Chinese PLA Medical School, Beijing 100853,China; International Joint Cancer Institute, The Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China. Tel.: +86 21 81870801; Fax: +86 21 65306667; E-mail: yjguo@163.com; kexingfan@163.com
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: High expression of CD14(+)HLA-DR-/low myeloid-derived suppressor
cells (MDSCs) is correlated with immunosuppressive activity in various cancers,
however, no studies have shown a correlation of these immunosuppressive
cells with clinical outcomes in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to investigate the number, frequency and
clinical significance of CD14(+)HLA-DR-/low MDSCs in SCLC patients. METHODS: The peripheral blood of 42 patients with SCLC and 37 healthy controls was
analyzed by using flow cytometry. The relationships between the number and
frequency of MDSCs, clinicopathological features and overall survival(OS)
were analyzed. The prognostic value of MDSCs was tested by using univariate
and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that number and frequency of peripheral
CD14(+)HLA-DR-/low MDSCs were significantly increased in SCLC patients than
in controls (p< 0.0001 and p< 0.0001, respectively). The frequency of MDSCs
correlated with tumor stage (p= 0.02), serum LDH levels (p= 0.001) and with the
poorer OS (log-rank test, p= 0.017). Univariate and multivariate analyses
suggested that frequency of CD14(+)HLA-DR-/low MDSCs as an independent
biomarker for poor prognosis in SCLC patients during follow-up. Our study
provides the first evidence that the frequency of CD14(+)HLA-DR-/low MDSCs
negatively correlates with clinical outcomes in SCLC patients. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of CD14(+)HLA-DR-/low MDSCs could be
considered as a poor prognostic predictor in SCLC and the elimination of MDSCs
during medical interventions may improve the prognosis of SCLC patients.
