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.