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Their peripheral lymphocyte subsets, phenotypes and functions were detected using flow cytometry. The dynamic results of lymphocyte activities were available for 18 patients.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Compared with healthy controls (HCs), the counts of CD3<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>, CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>, and CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells as well as those NK cells decreased in patients newly diagnosed with DLBCL, mainly attributed to patients with high risk of prognosis assessed by International Prognostic Index (IPI) score. Lymphocyte counts didn\u2019t present significant difference between high risk (IPI scores 3\u20135) and low risk patients (IPI scores 0\u20132), but CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells and CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells expressed higher levels of CD28 and HLA-DR, respectively, in patients with IPI score ranging from 3 to 5. Patients at high risk harbored higher percentage of regulatory T cells (Tregs), and their CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> and CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells produced lower levels of IFN-\u03b3, reflecting an impaired cellular immune response. The dynamic changes of lymphocyte numbers and functions during treatment were further investigated. Total counts of CD3<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>, CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>, CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T and NK cells progressively decreased because of the cytotoxicity of chemotherapy and then gradually recovered after six cycles treatment (rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone, R-CHOP). The functions of CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> and CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells recovered by the end of two cycles R-CHOP treatment, although NK cell function was not significantly affected throughout treatment. These results suggest that the counts and functions of lymphocytes are significantly decreased in patients with DLBCL, particularly those of CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> and CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>The absolute counts and functions of CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>, CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells, which were significantly lower in patients with DLBCL, gradually recovered after effective treatment. Therefore, combined detection of T cell counts and functions are critically important for administering effective personalized immunotherapy as well as for identifying new prognostic markers or DLBCL.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12935-021-01978-w","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,27]],"date-time":"2021-05-27T20:11:25Z","timestamp":1622146285000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Dynamic changes in peripheral blood lymphocyte subset counts and functions in patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma during chemotherapy"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Hongyan","family":"Hou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guoxing","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bo","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Renren","family":"Ouyang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ting","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Min","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shiji","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dengju","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6324-9135","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Feng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,27]]},"reference":[{"issue":"20","key":"1978_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2375","DOI":"10.1182\/blood-2016-01-643569","volume":"127","author":"SH Swerdlow","year":"2016","unstructured":"Swerdlow SH, Campo E, Pileri SA, Harris NL, Stein H, Siebert R, Advani R, Ghielmini M, Salles GA, Zelenetz AD, et al. 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Informed written consent was obtained from the patients.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Written informed consent for publication of the clinical details was obtained from the patients.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no competing interest.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"282"}}