Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 21, 2017; 23(3): 455-463
Published online Jan 21, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i3.455
Role of LAP+CD4+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment of colorectal cancer
Wu Zhong, Zhi-Yuan Jiang, Lei Zhang, Jia-Hao Huang, Shi-Jun Wang, Cun Liao, Bin Cai, Li-Sheng Chen, Sen Zhang, Yun Guo, Yun-Fei Cao, Feng Gao
Wu Zhong, Lei Zhang, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ganzhou Hospital of Nanchang University, Ganzhou 341000, Jiangxi Province, China
Zhi-Yuan Jiang, Department of Anorectal Surgery, Minzu Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning 530001, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Jia-Hao Huang, Shi-Jun Wang, Cun Liao, Bin Cai, Li-Sheng Chen, Sen Zhang, Yun Guo, Yun-Fei Cao, Feng Gao, Department of Colorectal and Anal Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Author contributions: Zhong W, Jiang ZY and Zhang L contributed equally to this work; Chen LS, Zhang S and Cao YF, Gao F designed the research; Zhong W, Jiang ZY and Huang JH performed the research; Wang SJ, Liao C contributed new reagents/analytic tools; Cai B and Guo Y analyzed the data; Zhong W and Jiang ZY wrote the paper.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81260316.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University Institutional Review Board, Nanning, China.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional unpublished data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Yun-Fei Cao, Professor, Department of Colorectal and Anal Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. cyf0016@163.com
Telephone: +86-771-5356529 Fax: +86-771-5351442
Received: August 18, 2016
Peer-review started: August 22, 2016
First decision: October 10, 2016
Revised: November 9, 2016
Accepted: December 16, 2016
Article in press: December 19, 2016
Published online: January 21, 2017
Core Tip

Core tip: Many carcinomas, including colorectal cancer, gastric and nasopharyngeal cancer, are associated with elevated numbers of T regulatory (Treg) cells. It is suggested that Treg cells promote tumor development and metastasis by inhibiting the proliferation of effector T lymphocytes. LAP+CD4+ T cells, a recently identified subset of CD4+ Treg cells, have 50-fold more potent immunosuppressive ability than traditional CD4+CD25+ T cells. Here, we present several lines of evidence correlating LAP+CD4+ T cells with colorectal cancer progression.