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Immunomodulatory Effect of Lentinan on Aberrant T Subsets and Cytokines Profile in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

  • Original Article
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Pathology & Oncology Research

Abstract

As a purified active component from traditional Chinese medicine, lentinan administration can be applied as beneficial chemo-immunotherapy for anti-tumor. In this study, the immunomodulatory effects of lentinan on aberrant T subsets and cytokines profile were evaluated for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Of all NSCLC patients treated with NP chemotherapeutic protocol (combination of vinorelbin and cisplatin), 73 cases were recruited in this retrospective cohort trial study, of which 38 cases received additional lentinan. The changes of aberrant T subsets and cytokines profile were compared between two groups (chemotherapy in combination with lentinan vs. conserved single chemotherapy) by flow cytometry and molecular biology. Higher subset ratio of CD3+CD8+ cytotoxic T cells was confirmed in the peripheral blood of NSCLC patients. Chemo-immunotherapy of lentinan resulted in a significant increase of CD3 + CD56+ NKT cells (15.7 ± 3.1%), compared with 8.6 ± 1.4% of NKT cells in single chemotherapy group, and up-regulated CD3+CD8+ and CD3+CD4+ subsets as well, but caused the decrease of CD4+CD25+ Tregs induction, accompanied by significant alleviation of IL-10 and TGF-β1, and elevation of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-12 (P < 0.05). It could be confirmed that lentinan could not only enhance the cellular immunity and promote the beneficial of anti-tumor by associated immunotherapy, but also had the ability to inhibit the expansion of immune suppressive Tregs in the NSCLC patients, in whom there was a raised Tregs induction compared to health control. Lentinan-based chemo-immunotherapy is a promising strategy for anti-tumor via enhancing the proliferation of cytotoxic T cells, followed by the elevation of inflammatory chemokines/cytokines. Meanwhile, the percentage of CD4+ CD25+ Tregs is down-regulated, leading to a shift in the inflammatory status from Th2 to Th1 in NSCLC patients treated with lentinan.

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Acknowledgements

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine on Oncology, Ningbo Yinzhou People Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang, 315040, China

    Xi-en Wang, You-hui Wang, Qiang Zhou, Min Peng, Jing Zhang, Mi Chen, Li-juan Ma & Guo-ming Xie

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  1. Xi-en Wang
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  2. You-hui Wang
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  3. Qiang Zhou
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  4. Min Peng
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  5. Jing Zhang
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  6. Mi Chen
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  7. Li-juan Ma
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  8. Guo-ming Xie
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Contributions

All authors of XEW, YHW, QZ and GMX were involved in the study concept, statistical analysis and preparation of the manuscripts. The co-authors of MP, JZ, MC and LJM were mainly focused on data collection. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xi-en Wang.

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Wang, Xe., Wang, Yh., Zhou, Q. et al. Immunomodulatory Effect of Lentinan on Aberrant T Subsets and Cytokines Profile in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 26, 499–505 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-018-0545-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-018-0545-y

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