Mohammad Kazzem Gheybi - Persian Gulf tropical medicine research center, research committee of Bushehr university of medical sciences
Shokrollah Farrokhi - Department of Immunology and Allergy, Persian Gulf tropical medicine research center, Bushehr university of medical sciences
Mohammad Reza Ravanbod - Department of Hematology and Oncology, Bushehr university of medical sciences
Afshin Ostovar - Department of Epidemiology, Persian Gulf tropical medicine research center, Bushehr university of medical sciences

Background: Breast Cancer (BC) is one of the main causes of death among women in the world. The immune system Regulatory lymphocytes have an important role in immunopathology of different diseases including cancers. We aimed to study the percentage and function of regulatory lymphocytes of peripheral blood in BC patients.Materials and Methods: We performed a case-control, prospective study to investigate level and function of T and B regulatory cells of peripheral blood in 32 BC patientswhich have been diagnosed recently. Results: Percentage of B regulatory cells in BC patients was 10.718% which was significantly higher than healthy individuals (P<0.001). Percentage of T regulatory cells in BC patients was 7.424% which was also significantly higher than healthy individuals (P<0.001). Conclusion: Our study is the first to assess B regulatory cells in breast cancer patients. We saw higher percentage and function of regulatory cells in advanced clinical stages and grades of breast cancer patients.

breast cancer, B regulatory, T regulatory, TGF-β