Table 1 Clinicopathological correlation of the deletion spanning pre-S2 gene segment in 40 HBV-related HCC patients.

From: Increased infiltration of regulatory T cells in hepatocellular carcinoma of patients with hepatitis B virus pre-S2 mutant

Characteristicsa

Negative (no. of patients (%))

Positive (no. of patients (%))

P valueb

Density of CTLsc

19 (100)

21 (100)

 

High

9 (47)

10 (48)

0.2482

Low

10 (53)

11 (52)

 

Density of CD4+CD25+ cellsd

19 (100)

21 (100)

 

High

0 (0)

20 (95)

< 0.0001***

Low

19 (100)

1 (5)

 

Density of granzyme B-expressing cellse

19 (100)

21 (100)

 

High

16 (84)

3 (14)

< 0.0001***

Low

3 (16)

18 (86)

 

Density of Foxp3-expressing cellsf

19 (100)

21 (100)

 

High

0 (0)

15 (71)

< 0.0001***

Low

19 (100)

6 (29)

 
  1. HBV hepatitis B virus, HCC hepatocellular carcinoma, CTLs cytotoxic T lymphocytes, Foxp3 forkhead box P3, HBeAg hepatitis B e antigen, AST aspartate aminotransferase, ALT alanine aminotransferase, AFP alpha-fetoprotein, CLIP Cancer of the Liver Italian Program, BCLC Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer, AJCC American Joint Committee on Cancer, TNM tumor-node-metastasis.
  2. ***P value < 0.001.
  3. aOnly patients with available data were analyzed.
  4. bP value was determined by the chi-square test.
  5. cThe density of CTLs in tumor tissues above the mean density (18.03) was defined as high density.
  6. dThe density of CD4+CD25+ cells in tumor tissues above the mean density (8.18) was defined as high density.
  7. eThe density of granzyme B-expressing cells in tumor tissues above the mean density (5.53) was defined as high density.
  8. fThe density of Foxp3-expressing cells in tumor tissues above the mean density (35.58) was defined as high density.