Levels of peripheral immune blood cells are related to the grade of isocitrate dehydrogenase-mutant oligodendroglioma

Background and Aim: The immune response to glioma is significantly impaired because of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations. However, the immune reaction to glioma is poorly understood. Materials and Methods: We selected 38 patients with IDH-mutant oligodendroglioma and divided them into low-grade and high-grade groups. Forty healthy people were selected as a control group. Blood samples were collected from the control group and from glioma group patients on the day before surgery and at 3 and 7 days after surgery, and numbers of immune cells were determined. This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, China (approval No. 2018K-C017) on June 4, 2018. Results: The percentages of CD3+, CD4+, CD4+/CD8+, and CD3− CD19+ B-lymphocytes, and of CD3− CD16+ CD56+ natural killer cells were significantly lower (P < 0.05), and the percentage of CD4+ CD25+ regulatory cells was significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the glioma group compared with the control group. IDH-mutant oligodendroglioma patients with a higher grade of malignancy had lower levels of immune cells preoperatively and postoperatively (P < 0.05), and the levels of immune cells increased following surgery (P < 0.05). Conclusions: IDH-mutant oligodendroglioma patients with high-grade malignancy have a lower number of immune cells in peripheral blood compared with patients with low-grade malignancy. This finding can be used as an effective indicator to evaluate the malignancy and prognosis of IDH-mutant oligodendroglioma and provides a new avenue for the immunotherapy of gliomas.