An association of ovarian cancer tissue iNKT+/CD3+/CD161+ with the concentration of CA125 in serum.
Description
Purpose of the present study was to investigate the association of NKT cells with key ovarian markers (OC) - CA125 in serum. The study describes the assessment of iNKT cells in peripheral blood and tissue of benign and borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) and in the advanced-stage ovarian cancer. The study group consisted of 25 women with benign ovarian tumors, 11 women with BOTs, and 24 women with primary advanced-stage ovarian cancers. The control group was composed of 20 patients without the ovarian pathology. The percentages of iNKT lymphocytes in the peripheral blood and tissue specimens were assessed by a flow cytometry. Significant differences in the percentage of iNKT+/CD3+ of CD3+ lymphocytes, iNKT+/CD3+/CD161+ among CD3+ and iNKT+/CD3+/CD161+ among CD3+/iNKT+ between the control group and patients with ovarian tumors in the peripheral blood and tumor tissue were found. Significant correlations were noted between the percentage of lymphocytes iNKT+/CD3+/CD161+ of CD3+/iNKT cells in blood and in tumor tissue of both benign and malignant tumors. In the OC group, neither the percentage of iNKT cells in the blood (P=0.07), nor the intra-tumor NKT-cell infiltration (P=0.5) were found to constitute independent prognostic factors for the follow-up. An increased percentage of iNKT cells was observed in benign ovarian tumors compared to OCs. In ovarian cancer patients, a higher percentage of iNKT cells in tumor tissue was present in comparison to that observed in the patient’s blood. Moreover, a correlation between the serum marker CA125 and NKT cells from the ovarian tissue of patients with ovarian cancer was detected. The current paper, for the first time, showed the negative association between concentration of CA125 in serum and NKT lymphocyte from ovarian tissue. Presented findings underscore new aspects of the iNKT cells involvement in the ovarian cancer development. Inflammatory process in ovarian cancer tissue and possibility of endothelial immune cells to infilitrate, could be causes small amount of NKT cells in microenviroment and increased CA125 marker in circulation.