Search

A pulmonary lesion is an extremely common and clinically challenging disorder worldwide, and an accurate diagnosis of lung cancer is crucial for early treatment and management. The aim of the present study was to perform a comprehensive meta analysis to compare the diagnostic performance of 18F-fluorothymidine (18F-FLT) positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET in evaluating patients with pulmonary lesions. Relevant studies were identified using the PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane library databases. The pooled estimated sensitivity, specificity, positive-likelihood ratio, negative-likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) for 18F-FLT PET versus 18F-FDG PET were calculated as the main outcome measures. Summary receiver operating characteristic curves were also constructed by Meta-Disk 1.4 software using a Mose's constant of linear model. The meta analysis showed that 18F-FLT PET had a higher specificity (0.70; 95% CI, 0.61–0.77), but lower sensitivity (0.81; 95% CI, 0.74–0.87) compared to 18F-FDG PET (0.50; 95% CI, 0.41–0.58 for specificity; 0.92; 95% CI 0.86–0.95 for sensitivity). For DOR, 18F-FLT PET (12.58; 95% CI, 6.81–23.24) was higher compared to 18F-FDG PET (10.72; 95% CI, 5.51–20.87). The area under the curve was 0.8592 and 0.9240 for 18F-FLT PET and 18F-FDG PET, respectively (Z=0.976, P>0.05). In conclusion, 18F-FLT PET and 18F-FDG PET had good diagnostic performance for the overall assessment of pulmonary lesions, and 18F-FLT PET had a higher specificity compared to 18F-FDG PET, but was less sensitive than 18F-FDG PET. Therefore, 18F-FLT and 18F-FDG together could add diagnostic confidence for pulmonary lesions.

Natural T cells [cluster of differentiation (CD) 3+CD56+] and natural killer (NK) cells (CD3-CD56+) are particularly abundant in the human liver and serve an important role in immune responses in the liver. The aim of the present study was to extensively determine the phenotypic and functional characteristics of natural T and NK cells in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Tumorous and non-tumorous tissue infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs and NILs, respectively) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were obtained to determine the frequency and phenotype of natural T/NK cells by a multicolor fluorescence activated cell sorting analysis. The abundance of natural T cells and NK cells was decreased in TILs vs. NILs (natural T cells, 6.315±1.002 vs. 17.16±1.804; NK cells, 6.324±1.559 vs. 14.52±2.336, respectively). However such results were not observed in PBMCs from HCC patients vs. that of healthy donors. Notably, a substantial fraction of the natural T cells (21.96±5.283) in TILs acquired forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) expression, and the FOXP3+ natural T cells lost the expression of interferon-γ and perforin. Conversely, being similar to the conventional FOXP3+ regulatory T cells, the FOXP3+ natural T cells assumed a specific phenotype that was characteristic of CD25+, CD45RO+ and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4+. Consistent with the phenotypic conversion, the present functional results indicate that FOXP3 expression in natural T cells contributes to the acquisition of a potent immunosuppressive capability. In conclusion, the present study describes a different representation of natural T cells and NK cells in local tumor tissues and in the periphery blood of patients with HCC, and identified a new type of FOXP3-expressing natural T cell spontaneously arising in the TILs of HCC.