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Several studies have shown that development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) generates a number of immune suppressive mechanisms in these patients. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are a heterogeneous population of cells that have been shown to inhibit T-cell responses in tumor-bearing mice, but little is known about these cells in humans owing to a lack of specific markers. In this study, we have investigated the frequency and function of a new population of MDSC denoted here as CD14⁺HLA-DR^−/low in HCC patients. We have also identified a novel, MDSC-mediated immune regulatory pathway in these patients.

We have directly isolated and characterized MDSCs for phenotype and function from peripheral blood (n = 111) and tumor (n = 12) of patients with HCC.

The frequency of CD14⁺HLA-DR^−/low cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC …