About Entrez
Text Version
Entrez PubMed
Overview
Help |
FAQ
Tutorial
New/Noteworthy
E-Utilities
PubMed Services
Journals Database
MeSH Database
Single Citation Matcher
Batch Citation Matcher
Clinical Queries
LinkOut
Cubby
Related Resources
Order Documents
NLM Catalog
NLM Gateway
TOXNET
Consumer Health
Clinical Alerts
ClinicalTrials.gov
PubMed Central
|
|
T-cell homeostasis in breast cancer survivors with persistent fatigue.
Bower JE, Ganz PA, Aziz N, Fahey JL, Cole SW.
Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, CA 90095-7076, USA. jbower@ucla.edu
Approximately 30% of women successfully treated for breast cancer suffer persistent fatigue of unknown origin. Recent studies linking inflammatory processes to central nervous system-mediated fatigue led us to examine cellular immune system status in 20 fatigued breast cancer survivors and 19 matched non-fatigued breast cancer survivors. Fatigued survivors, compared with non-fatigued survivors, had statistically significantly increased numbers of circulating T lymphocytes (mean 31% increase, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 6% to 56%; P =.015 by two-sided analysis of variance [ANOVA]), with pronounced elevation in the numbers of CD4+ T lymphocytes (mean 41% increase, 95% CI = 15% to 68%; P =.003 by two-sided ANOVA) and CD56+ effector T lymphocytes (mean 52% increase, 95% CI = 4% to 99%; P =.027 by two-sided ANOVA). These changes were independent of patient demographic and treatment characteristics. Absolute numbers of B cells, natural killer cells, granulocytes, and monocytes were not altered. The increased numbers of circulating T cells correlated with elevations in the level of serum interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (for CD3+ cells, r =.56 and P =.001; for CD3+/CD4+ cells, r =.68 and P<.001, by Spearman rank correlation). Results of this study suggest that persistent fatigue in breast cancer survivors might be associated with a chronic inflammatory process involving the T-cell compartment. These results require confirmation in a larger study that is specifically designed to address this hypothesis.
PMID: 12902446 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
|