Background: The association between natural killer (NK) cells and survival in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients remains controversial. This study aimed to clarify the prognostic value of peripheral blood NK cells in CRC patients.Methods: A total of 447 CRC patients who underwent radical surgery and chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Cox regression analyses were used to identify independent prognostic indicators. Correlation between NK cell percentage and other clinicopathological features (gender, age, histological grade, tumor stage, immune cells, and inflammatory indicators) was analyzed. The prognostic values of the combinations of NK cell percentage and other clinicopathological features were also determined. Results: Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that NK cell percentage in the peripheral blood was an independent prognostic indicator in CRC patients. A higher percentage of NK cells indicated a longer survival time than a lower percentage. NK cell percentage was positively correlated to the T and B lymphocyte counts and negatively correlated to the patients' age and albumin levels. With an area of 0.741 under a receiver operating characteristic curve, NK cells have a moderate predictive value for 3rd-year survival in CRC. This area increased to 0.851 by combining NK cell percentage with the B lymphocyte count. Elderly patients and those at an advanced clinical stage presented a lower percentage of NK cells than younger patients and those at an early clinical stage.Conclusions: This study demonstrated that NK cells in the blood were an independent predictor of survival in CRC patients, and the combined count of NK cells and B lymphocytes could increase the prognostic value.
T helper 9 (Th9) cells, a recently recognized Th cell subset, are involved in autoimmune diseases. We aimed to investigate the role of Th9/interleukin-9 (IL-9) in the pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis. Th9 and Th17 cells were quantified in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with hepatic fibrosis, HBV-associated liver cirrhosis (LC) patients and healthy controls (HC). The percentages of Th9 and Th17 cells, concentrations of IL-9 and IL-17, as well as expression of IL-17, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-4, IL-21, TGF-β1 and IFN-γ were significantly increased in plasma of CHB and LC patients compared with those in HC. Splenic Th9 and Th17 cells, plasma concentrations and liver expression of IL-9 and IL-17A were significantly elevated in mice with hepatic fibrosis compared with controls. Neutralization of IL-9 in mice ameliorated hepatic fibrosis, attenuated the activation of hepatic stellate cells, reduced frequencies of Th9, Th17 and Th1 cells in spleen, and suppressed expression of IL-9, IL-17A, IFN-γ, TGF-β1, IL-6, IL-4 and TNF-α in plasma and liver respectively. Our data suggest a deleterious role of Th9/IL-9 in increasing hepatic fibrosis and exacerbating disease endpoints, indicating that Th9/IL9 based immunotherapy may be a promising approach for treating hepatic fibrosis.
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