CD11c- and CD123-positive dendritic cells in development of antitumour immunity in non-small cell lung cancer patients

Our aim was to analyzed the significance of CD11c and CD123 positive DCs and their relations with some clinical and pathologic parameters of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The immunohistochemical expression of CD11c and CD123, was evaluated in 40 patients with NSCLC.

After analysis we found that 35.3% of the patients in the T3-4 tumour stage had a high CD11c infiltration in the tumour stroma, while 100% of the patients in the T1-2 tumour stage had low infiltration (p = 0.03). We also found that 71.4%

of patients in the M1 stage had a high infiltration with CD123 in the tumour stroma, whereas only 15.6% of patients without metastases had high infiltration, analogous data are also found in comparing the distribution of CD123 in the tumour border (p = 0.002 or p = 0.002). Comparing the density of CD123 in the border of lymph node involvement, we found that only 7.14% of patients without metastases had low infiltration with dendritic cells, whereas in patients with metastatic lymph nodes that percentage was 41.7% (p = 0.008).

In conclusion results suggest that CD11c- and CD123-positive DCs play an important role in antitumour immunity and can be predictive factor for tumour development in patients with NSCLC.