Differences in circulating lymphocyte subpopulations among patients with inflammatory polyps, colorectal adenomas and colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Colorectal cancer (CRC) may develop from focal changes within benign or precancerous polyps. The immune system's failure to detect and eradicate tumor cells due to immune surveillance evasion, allows cancer to develop and spread. This study aims to analyze the differences in circulating lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with colorectal inflammatory polyps, colorectal adenomas and CRC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients from September 2016 to December 2019 at the Shaoxing Second Hospital. Using flow cytometry, the subset distribution and immunophenotype of T cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, B cells and NK cells were investigated in peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples. The counts of lymphocytes were determined by white blood cell counts. RESULTS: In total, 518 patients were included in this study. The counts of lymphocytes, T cells and NK cells in patients with inflammatory polyps, colorectal adenomas and CRC were lower than controls. The counts and percentages of CD8+ T cells in patients with inflammatory polyps, colorectal adenomas and CRC were lower than controls. The counts of CD4+ T cells were lower in patients with CRC than inflammatory polyps. The percentages of CD4+ T cells in patients with inflammatory polyps, colorectal adenomas and CRC were higher than controls, but lower in the CRC than inflammatory polyps, colorectal adenomas. The counts and percentages of B cells were lower in CRC patients than colorectal adenomas patients. In addition, the percentages of B cells were higher in patients with inflammatory polyps and colorectal adenomas than in controls. CONCLUSIONS: The decrease in counts of lymphocyte, T cells, CD8+ T cells and NK cells in patients may be related to the dysplasia of epithelial cells. Furthermore, the B cells and CD4+ T cells may be related to the malignant growth of the dysplastic epithelial cells.

Response of bacterioplankton communities to cadmium exposure in coastal water microcosms with high temporal variability.

Multiple anthropogenic disturbances to bacterial diversity have been investigated in coastal ecosystems, in which temporal variability in the bacterioplankton community has been considered a ubiquitous process. However, far less is known about the temporal dynamics of a bacterioplankton community responding to pollution disturbances such as toxic metals. We used coastal water microcosms perturbed with 0, 10, 100, and 1,000 µg liter(-1) of cadmium (Cd) for 2 weeks to investigate temporal variability, Cd-induced patterns, and their interaction in the coastal bacterioplankton community and to reveal whether the bacterial community structure would reflect the Cd gradient in a temporally varying system. Our results showed that the bacterioplankton community structure shifted along the Cd gradient consistently after a 4-day incubation, although it exhibited some resistance to Cd at low concentration (10 µg liter(-1)). A process akin to an arms race between temporal variability and Cd exposure was observed, and the temporal variability overwhelmed Cd-induced patterns in the bacterial community. The temporal succession of the bacterial community was correlated with pH, dissolved oxygen, NO3 (-)-N, NO2 (-)-N, PO4 (3-)-P, dissolved organic carbon, and chlorophyll a, and each of these parameters contributed more to community variance than Cd did. However, elevated Cd levels did decrease the temporal turnover rate of community. Furthermore, key taxa, affiliated to the families Flavobacteriaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, Erythrobacteraceae, Piscirickettsiaceae, and Alteromonadaceae, showed a high frequency of being associated with Cd levels during 2 weeks. This study provides direct evidence that specific Cd-induced patterns in bacterioplankton communities exist in highly varying manipulated coastal systems. Future investigations on an ecosystem scale across longer temporal scales are needed to validate the observed pattern.