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Presence of Periodontitis May Contribute to Immune Evasion in Cancer
21 Pages Posted: 7 Jan 2022
More...Abstract
Background: A close causal relationship has been suggested to exist between cancer and periodontitis. We hypothesized that the immune surveillance system is impaired in patients with periodontitis, which contributes to cancer development and growth. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between immune surveillance mechanisms and periodontitis in cancer patients.
Methods: Thirty cancer and 31 non-cancer patients were recruited for the present study. The presence or absence of periodontitis was assessed and the peripheral blood (PB) concentrations of inflammation cytokines(IL-6), immunosuppressive cytokines (VEGF, TGFβ-1, and CCL22) and proportion of T regulatory cells (Treg, CD3+CD4+CD25+Foxp3+) were measured.
Findings: Subjects were classified into the following four groups: non-cancer patients without periodontitis (C-P-), non-cancer patients with periodontitis (C-P+), cancer patients without periodontitis (C+P-), and cancer patients with periodontitis (C+P+). The results of a multivariate analysis adjusted for confounding factors (age, sex, smoking status, diabetes mellitus, and tooth number) showed that the PB concentration of IL-6 was significantly higher in C+ than in C- and higher in C+P+ than in C+P-. The PB proportion of Treg was significantly higher in C+P+ than in C+P-, C-P+, and C-P-.
Interpretation: The present results showed that the presence of cancer and periodontitis synergistically increased the proportion of Treg and concentration of IL-6 in PB, which may be one of mechanisms underlying immunosuppression and immune evasion in cancer. Therefore, the presence of periodontitis may contribute to immune evasion in cancer.
Funding Information: JPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP21K16943.
Declaration of Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest directly relevant to the content of this article.
Ethics Approval Statement: The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shinshu University School of 31 (Approval number #4144). The present study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 Fortaleza revision) and Ethical Guidelines for Medical Research for Humans. Patients agreed with informed consent to participate in the present study.
Keywords: immune evasion, cancer, periodontitis, Treg, IL-6
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation