Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of peripheral blood natural killer (NK) cell percentages in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after radical hepatectomy. Methods A total of 127 patients with HCC were admitted to our hospital between May 2019 and May 2021, and all underwent radical hepatectomy. All the patients with HCC were followed-up for 24 months. The peripheral blood NK cell percentages were detected by flow cytometry. Based on the imaging, the recurrent tumors were divided into stage Ⅰ, stage Ⅱ and stage Ⅲ. Results Post-operationally, the percentages of peripheral blood CD3^-CD56⁺ and CD3^-CD16⁺CD56⁺ cells in 127 patients with HCC were(27.3±1.6)% and (16.3±1.4)%, both significantly higher than [(16.4±1.4)% and (12.5±1.5)%, P<0.05] before operation; the imaging showed the recurrent tumors in 53 cases during the two-year follow-up, and the percentages of peripheral blood CD3^-CD56⁺, CD3^-CD16⁺CD56⁺ and D3^-CD161⁺NK cells in patients with recurrent tumors were (21.4±2.3)%, (14.8±1.5)% and (19.4±2.6)%, all significantly lower than [(25.4±2.6)%, (17.1±1.6)% and (22.6±2.8)%, respectively, P<0.05] in patients without recurrent tumors; the percentages of peripheral blood CD3^-CD56⁺, CD3^-CD16⁺CD56⁺ and D3^-CD161⁺NK cells in 15 patients with stage Ⅲ recurrent tumors were (15.3±1.6)%, (13.2±1.5)% and (17.3±1.2)%, all significantly lower than [(20.2±1.4)%, (16.7±1.5)% and (20.4±2.5)%, respectively, P<0.05] in 21 patients with stage Ⅱ or [(23.4±2.5)%, (17.1±1.7)% and (21.4±2.4)%, respectively, P<0.05] in 17 patients with stage Ⅰ recurrent tumors. Conclusions The patients with HCC have their cellular immune function deficiency, and the percentages of peripheral blood CD3^-CD56⁺, CD3^-CD16⁺CD56⁺ and CD3^-CD161⁺NK cells increase post-operationally, which might be helpful in preventing tumor recurrence.

Key words: Hepatoma, Radical hepatectomy, Natural killer cells, Tumor recurrence, Therapy