T-bet

T-bet is the core factor that determines the differentiation of initial T cells to T helper cell 1 (Th1), involved in the normal development and function maintaining of various immune cells. In clinical practice, T-bet has good diagnosis value for the T lymphoma and B lymphoma. For example, T-bet can be expressed in classical Hodgkin lymphoma but not in diffuse large B cell lymphoma, which makes it useful for differential diagnosis. In addition, T-bet high expression suggests a good prognosis of NK/T cell lymphoma patients. Meanwhile, some research found that Th1 decreases but Th2 increases in some malignant diseases, such as lung cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer, which is closely related to the occurrence and development of tumors, indicating that T-bet may have tumor inhibition effect. However, some scholars pointed out that several patients with T-bet highly expressed lung cancer, breast cancer and urothelial carcinoma have worse prognosis, which may be because T-bet positive regulatory T cells can inhibit killer cell activity.