Análise da síntese de IL-12 em linfócitos T CD4+ e correlação com fatores de transcrição em pacientes com câncer avançado

Abstract

In the tumor context, the immune system plays roles that can prevent development or progression of tumor. Thus, the production of cytokines by CD4+ T lymphocytes represents a crucial phenomenon in the immune response, because the variations in this regulation may result in an inadequate response. Previously, our research group demonstrated that CD4+ T lymphocytes from advanced cancer patients expressed interleukin-12 and the same was applied to mice induced breast cancer with DMBA (7,12-Dimethylbenzanthracene). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the synthesis of IL-12 in CD4+ T lymphocytes from the peripheral blood of cancer patients, correlating with the expression of T-bet, GATA-3, RORγt and FoxP3 transcription factors. The CD3+CD4+IL-12+ T cells were isolated from the peripheral blood obtained from cancer patients, using flow cytometry technique with cell sorting principle and submitted to transcriptional profile analysis. The results demonstrate a significantly higher percentage of CD3+CD4+IL-12+ T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of cancer patients (p <0.0001). In addition, these express the transcription factor RORγt, and some may coexpress the T-bet factor. It has been observed that some serum factor (s) present in the serum of cancer patients are still capable of inducing the differentiation of CD3+CD4+IL-12+ T lymphocytes, being remarkable the increase in the percentage of these cells in stimulated cultures with serum (p = 0.0020). However new investigations are needed to understand this lymphocyte phenotype.