This paper reviews studies previously conducted on the effect of anticancer drugs on immune function in man. It provides new data reporting on the effect of short intensive courses of cytotoxic drug therapy on B-lymphocyte and T-lymphocyte number in cancer patients. Both types of lymphocyte were found in this investigation to be equally sensitive to cytotoxic drugs. The degree of absolute cell number reduction and rate of recovery were similar for T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes. Other workers have demonstrated, however, that with prolonged administration of cytotoxic drugs B-lymphocyte number and function are more adversely affected than are T-lymphocyte number and function. Immune function which had been suppressed by continuous programs of chemotherapy for periods of up to 2-3 years will, in certain groups of patients, recover to normal or almost normal levels of function. Short courses of combination drug chemotherapy may be followed by "rebound-overshoot" recovery of immune function. This has been associated with a more favorable clinical course than in situations where it does not occur. Chemotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy programs in clinical oncology ought ideally to be initially evaluated for the effect that they have on immune function. This will permit the development of drug dose and time schedules which allow for recovery of immune function and may possibly lead to augmented antitumor responses.

Objective. To investigate and compare the predisposing role of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in French Canadian and non-French Canadian (mainly AngloSaxon descent) Caucasian subjects.Methods. HLA-A, B, C (serology), DR, and DQ (restriction fragment length polymorphism [RFLP] typing) were determined. RFLP defining a large C4A,21-OHA deletion (Tuq I C4) and an Nco I tumor necrosis factor a (TNFa) RFLP were analyzed in 91 Caucasian Canadians and 91 ethnically matched control subjects.Results. In the total SLE and non-French Canadian SLE populations, HLA-B8, DR3(DR17), Dw24, DQ2, and the C4A gene deletion were associated with SLE. These HLA specificities and the C4A gene deletion were not significantly increased in French Canadian SLE patients compared with ethnically matched controls. When present in French Canadians, the C4A gene deletion was less closely associated with HLA-DR3(DR17), Dw24, DQ2 than in other Caucasians. HLA-DQ6 was associated with SLE in French Canadians. No association of the 2-allele Nco I TNFa RFLP with SLE was found in this population, in either ethnic group.Conclusion. These results support the importance of ethnic background in the study of MHC genes and SLE. The extended HLA-B8,DR3,C4A null haplotype is found mainly in SLE patients of Anglo-Saxon descent, while the DQ6 specificity is associated with SLE in French Canadians. This relatively genetically homogeneous Caucasian population offers the opportunity to study non-HLA-B8,DR3-4inked MHC influence in SLE.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract