Depressed Cell-Mediated Immunity in Patients With Primary Intracranial Tumors

Abstract

Impaired cell-mediated immunity in certain patients with nonlymphoid cancer is indicated by depressed skin reactivity to common antigens (1, 2), delayed homograft rejection (3), decreased ability to become sensitized to dinitrofluorobenzene (4) or dinitrochlorobenzene (5, 6), and decreased in vitro lymphocyte responsiveness to the mitogen phytohemagglutinin (7,8). It is not known whether depressed cell-mediated immunity precedes or follows the development of cancer.Tumor-specific antigens and cell-mediated tumor immunity are noted in cases of human cancer. Blood lymphocytes from patients with some neoplasms inhibit tumor cell growth (9, 10) or undergo blast transformation when cultured with autochthonous tumor cells (11). In addition to the cell-mediated responses, the sera of these patients contain antibodies or antigen-antibody complexes (12) that specifically block lymphocyte-tumor cell interaction through a poorly understood phenomenon termed immunologic enhancement (13,14).In the present studies, patients with primary intracranial tumors were found to have depressed cell-mediated immunity. Unlike other patients with solid systemic tumors and impaired delayed hypersensitivity, our patients did not have clinical evidence of metastases, weight loss, or hematologic abnormalities. These patients, then, afforded an unusual opportunity to study host mechanisms responsible for defective cell-mediated immunity.Although delayed hypersensitivity and other cell-mediated responses were depressed, we found evidence of lymphocyte sensitization to tumor antigens. To clarify these apparently paradoxical findings, we evaluated mononuc]ear leukocyte function with the one-way mixed lymphocyte reaction. Cellular reactivity in the absence of patient plasma was normal. Such plasma, however,

Antigens in human glioblastomas and meningiomas: search for tumour and onco-foetal antigens. Estimation of S-100 and GFA protein

“…Also, cellular immune reactions have indicated the existence of human tumourassociated antigens (Brooks et al, 1972;Levy et al, 1972;Kumar et al, 1973;Oda, 1974). In these studies the chemical nature of the antigens was not investigated, but they are usually presumed to be membrane proteins.…”

Inmunoterapia en astrocitomas de alto grado: principios y estado actual

“…En general, los pacientes afectados de tumores astrocitarios muestran importantes alteraciones en la función inmune, habiéndose encontrado un cierto grado de anergia cutánea e hipersensibilidad retardada alterada 11,60,61 , una disminución de los linfocitos T circulantes 61 , una reducción de la respuesta de los linfocitos a mitógenos 9,11 , una disminución de la respuesta de anticuerpos 61 y una citotoxicidad mediada por células T deficiente 11,61 . El hecho de que la citorreducción tumoral mejore de manera significativa la función inmune 13 apoya la teoría de que la presencia del tumor es en sí misma el principal factor causal del estado de inmunosupresión 60 .…”

Immunological alterations in patients with primary tumors in central nervous system

“…Brooks et al 37 found that serum from glioma patients inhibited the blastogenesis of normal lymphocytes. A defective expression of cytokines such as interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) were observed in peripheral blood lymphocytes from glioma patients 38 .…”

“…The presence of serum bloking factors for lymphocytes activity is also described in patients with malignant tumors 37 . Brooks et al 37 found that serum from glioma patients inhibited the blastogenesis of normal lymphocytes.…”