Sub-optimal primary surgery leads to unfavorable immunological changes in ovarian cancer patients

Primary cytoreduction, followed by chemotherapy, is a standard treatment of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). However, the effectiveness of this treatment depend on various elements e.g. type of operation. It is accepted that optimal surgery correlates with longer survival of patients. The other element, an efficiency of immune system after surgical intervention although important is less elucidated. The aim of this study was to establish the impact of optimal and sub-optimal operation on immunological status of EOC patients regarding also their overall survival (OS). On the day of primary cytoreduction and 7days after, the selected serum immunological parameters were determined in 49 patients with confirmed EOC. We found that, the level of immunosuppressive (interleukin 10; transforming growth factor-β - TGF-β1) and pro-inflammatory (interleukin-6 and 8) cytokines was significantly higher in the group of patients with advanced stage of disease, compared to early stage. However, the number of circulating CD3⁺, CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ cells, CD19⁺ and NK cells was similar in both group of EOC patients. The overall survival of patients who underwent optimal cytoreduction was significantly higher than that in whom only sub-optimal surgery was performed. Sub-optimal cytoreduction only partially weakened the serum level of TGF-β1 and IL-8 and what is more enhanced the number of circulating CD4⁺CD25^+high cells in patients with advanced stage of disease. Sub-optimal surgery and high post-operative level of TGF-β1 increased the hazard ratio for patients. Besides, we noticed that the high pre-operative concentration of TGF-β1 could distinguish all EOC patients (independently of FIGO classification) for whom optimal or sub-optimal surgery would be applied. Sub-optimal debulking resulted in higher immunosuppression and lower OS of EOC patients.