{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T00:23:42Z","timestamp":1792023822908,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,31]],"date-time":"2023-01-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675123200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells are an unconventional CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cell subset that exerts antiviral activity in infectious diseases. However, its characteristics in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been elucidated.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Twenty-six patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC and 25 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. The frequency and phenotype of CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells in peripheral blood and tumors in situ were detected by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Both the HCC group and  HC group had similar frequency and phenotype characteristics of CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells in the periphery. CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells were mainly composed of effector T cells, most of which were CD45RA<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CCR7-. Compared with CD11c-CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells, CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells had a higher proportion of CD38 and HLA-DR double positive, and expressed high levels of granzyme-B (GB) and degranulation marker CD107a, and produced high levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-\u03b1) and interferon-gamma (IFN-\u03b3). However, the ability of degranulation and TNF-\u03b1 production of CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells in patients with HCC were significantly lower than that in healthy controls. The GB expression level of peripheral CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells in patients with advanced stage of HCC was significantly lower than that in patients with early stage of HCC, and the GB expression level of liver-infiltrating CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells in tumor tissues was lower than that in non-tumor tissues. More importantly, the GB expression level of peripheral CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells was negatively correlated with tumor volume. <\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>These findings indicate that CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells may have potential anti-tumor activity and that GB<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD11c<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cells are associated with disease progression in patients with HBV-related HCC.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2023.1107483","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,31]],"date-time":"2023-01-31T04:56:53Z","timestamp":1675141013000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Decreased granzyme-B expression in CD11c+CD8+ T cells associated with disease progression in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular 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