Immunoincompetence in cancer patients. Assessment by in vitro stimulation tests and quantification of lymphocyte subpopulations

Abstract

The authors performed a variety of lymphocyte‐stimulation tests and quantified several lymphocyte subpopulations in 73 healthy controls and 72 patients with advanced cancer who were no longer receiving anticancer therapy. As a group, cancer patients had fewer lymphocytes and helper cells, but a greater proportion of suppressor cells and Ia+ cells than controls. The ratio of helper to suppressor cells was lower in the cancer group. Uptake of 125I‐uridine was markedly depressed in cancer patients in the face of stimulation with various plant lectins, foreign lymphocytes, and varicella—zoster antigen. There was little correlation between any of the stimulation tests and any of the lymphocyte subpopulation proportions or numbers. The two tests that were most frequently abnormally low among the cancer patients were percent lymphocytes and number of helper cells (81% each). The most frequently abnormal functional assay in patients was pokeweed mitogen stimulation (59%). Three separate statistical methods selected the combination of percent lymphocytes, percent Ia+ cells, percent suppressor cells, number of helper cells, and pokeweed mitogen stimulation as being the best predictors of cancer/immunoincompetent status. This study confirms the breadth of immunoincompetence in advanced cancer patients as defined by in vitro techniques. A smaller battery of tests can be useful in monitoring the immune status of such patients, especially during therapy with proposed immune modulators.

Dysregulation of blood lymphocyte subsets and natural killer cells in schistosomal liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma

“…There has been considerable interest in the hypothesis that impaired immunity is common in cancer patients [2,3]. Indeed, several studies have reported a reduction in both the number of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes and proportions of CD4 and CD8 T-lymphocytes in patients with solid neoplasms [4], which are thought to play an important role in cell-mediated immunity [5]. In the present study, flow cytometric analysis was conducted on cell surface markers of blood T-lymphocytes (CD3), helper/inducer cells (CD4), suppressor/cytotoxic cells (CD8), and natural killer (NK) cells (CD57) from patients with schistosomal periportal fibrosis (PPF), liver cirrhosis (LC), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in comparison with healthy controls.…”

“…In patients with solid neoplasms, a reduction in both the number of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes and proportions of CD4 and CD8 T-lymphocytes has been reported [4,5]. A reduced number of CD8 T-cells was found in the peripheral blood of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis [16].…”

Effect of a 12-week walking exercise program on body composition and immune cell count in patients with breast cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy

“…The prognosis of immune function in cancer patients can be predicted by histopathological findings of the stages of cancer [44,45]. Impairments in immune function of patients with advanced cancer have been shown to be related to decreases in the activity of T-lymphocyte and NK cells, and increased proliferation of subtype distribution within the venous blood of cancer tissues [46,47]. The interdependency between cancer stage and immune function has been well-described in studies evaluating changes in lymphocyte count and function at different stages of gastric cancer [48,49].…”

Evaluation of serum levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) and CD4, CD8 and natural killer (NK) populations during infrared pulsed laser device (IPLD) treatment

“…Various authors have reported a decrease in CD4 cells in progressive and metastatic cancer patients [21,24]. Our results support the concept that the decrease in CD4 cells is due to a decrease in CD45RA ' cells which are inducers of suppression [25].…”