The imbalance of Th17/Treg in patients with uterine cervical cancer

Background: Th17/Treg was reported to play critical roles in immunoregulation, and its imbalance may lead to autoimmune diseases and allergic reactions. Information on Th17/Treg in cancer bearing hosts is still limited. Methods: We examined the expression of IL-17, Foxp3 and IL-10 in uterine cervical cancer (UCC) patients, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (GIN) patients and healthy controls by flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Interleukin (IL)-17-producing CD4(+) cells as Th17 and CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) cells as Treg were expressed as a percentage of the total CD4(+) cells. Results: Compared with controls, patients with UCC or GIN had a higher proportion of Th17 cells. UCC patients also revealed a significant increase in Treg number and IL-17 and IL-10 concentrations in plasma, while CIN patients did not. Notably, in UCC patients, the increased Th17 prevalence was associated with clinical stage, lymph node metastases and vasoinvasion, while the increased Treg frequency was associated with tumor differentiation. Remarkably, an attractive imbalance of Th17/Treg was observed in UUC and CIN patients. Furthermore. in UCC patients with lymph node metastases or vasoinvasion, the ratio of Th17/Treg was significantly higher than that in negative patients respectively. Conclusions: Our results indicated a possible role of Th17 in UCC patients correlated to Treg cells, and the imbalance of Th17/Treg may be involved in the development and progression of UCC. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.