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Regulatory T (T_reg) cells play a major role in establishment and maintenance of self tolerance of immune system. Deficit in the numbers of Tregs contributes to the development of autoimmune diseases, allergy and graft rejection whereas abundance of Tregs suppresses anti-tumour immune response leading to tumour immuno-evasion. In this study, we have estimated the frequency of distinct immune cells, Tregs and its phenotypic subsets in patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) by multicolour flowcytometry. Subsequently we investigated the effects of MACS sorted Tregs on growth/proliferation/angiogenesis of OSCC cell lines in vitro.

Frequency of all the effector type anti-tumour immune cells such as CD8⁺ T-cells, NK (CD56⁺) and NKT (CD3⁺CD56⁺) cells was found to be decreased whereas CD3⁺, CD4⁺, γδ-T cells were upregulated in OSCC patients. We observed significantly increased (p < 0 …