위암 환자에서 세포성 면역 기능에 관한 연구

Abstract

We performed a variety of lymphocyte stimulation tests, delayed hypersensitivity skin tests, and enumeration of several lymphocyte subpopulations in 21 patients with gastric cancer who did not receive any form of anticancer therapy, and in 20 healthy controls. The gastric cancer patients had significantly de- creased number and total score of positive reactions in delayed hypersensitivity skin tests compared with the healthy controls. The percent of CD4 positive lymphocytes in the gastric cancer patients was significantly decreased compared to the normal control subjects, but it had no correlation with the total score of delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions. The ratio of helper to suppressor cells was lower in the cancer group. The uptake of 3H-thymidine was markedly depressed in cancer patients when stimulated with various mitogens. There was little correlation between any of the stimulation tests and any of the lymphocyte subpopulation proportions to delayed hypersensitivity cutaneous reactions. Optimal proliferative response was found in lymphocytes stimulated with 10 micrograms of concanavalin-A and 10 microgram of phytohemagglutinin. Advanced stage patients had greatly depressed delayed hypersensitivity skin reactions and proliferative responses to mitogens compared with localized diseases. These results suggest that gastric cancer patients have depressed cellular immune functions, which mainly result from the decreased helper cells and defects in functional proliferative response to mitogens. Interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma restored the in vitro proliferative response of lymphocyte in patients with gastric cancer.