The Auer Lab research program studies how surgery affects the immune system and how this can lead to suppression in cancer patients which can lead to cancer reoccurrence. This has been well characterized in literature, with a clear demonstration that both surgery induced suppression of T cell and Natural Killer (NK) cell result in cancer recurrence.. The present study is the first in humans, to our knowledge, to demonstrate antigen specific dysfunction in T cells and B cells following cancer surgery. The study capitalized on the widespread vaccination of cancer patients against COVID before surgery, which allowed us to measure the response to the antigen S protein of SARS-CoV2. While the study is translational in methodology, we believe it will be of significant interest to all surgeons because it clearly establishes that surgery profoundly suppresses antigen-specific T and B cell responses, which have implications for postoperative infectious complications and cancer recurrence for those patients undergoing tumor resection
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
30
The Ottawa Hospital
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Quantify the degree and determine the postoperative time course of antigen-specific T cell dysfunction following surgery
Used the production of IFNγ, as measured by ELISpot, to determine the degree and duration of surgery-induced suppression of T cell responses to the RBD antigen.
Time frame: measured at day 0,1, 3, 28 post surgery
Characterize the phenotype of dysfunctional CD8+ T cells in the immediate postoperative period
Using multicolor flow cytometry, we characterized the cell surface markers, intracellular pathways and cytokines that are altered on POD1 in CD8+ T cells in response to RBD antigen.
Time frame: measured at day 0,1 post surgery
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