“High‐affinity” t‐cell rosettes: The effects of clinical manipulations and potential prognostic significance

Abstract

Incubation of blood mononuclear cells with sheep erythrocytes at 29OC identifies "high-affinity'' rosette-forming T-cells (RFC). The proportion o f highaffinity RFC was more frequently depressed in patients with cancer than the total number of RFC identified under optimal rosetting conditions. Our purpose was to determine the effect of chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy on the level of RFC and t o determine whether trends in serial values had prognostic significance.Two hundred thirty-seven of 270 normal individuals tested had 29OC RFC levels greater than or equal t o 47%, while 21 of 41 untreated cancer patients had higher levels. Cancer patients with depressed 29OC RFC usually normalized within four weeks of operation. Serial studies of 29°C RFC were performed on 32 stage I and I1 lung cancer patients. Eight patients have developed recurrent tumor. We noted a pattern of falling rosette values (two or more consecutive values within normal limits followed by two consecutive depressed values) in five of these patients an average of five months before clinical relapse. Fifteen patients who have remained disease free either maintained normal levels of rosettes or increased into the normal range. Four of 13 (3 1%) stage I and four of nine (44%) stage I1 breast cancer patients had depressed rosette levels preoperatively. In seven stage I1 patients with no further therapy after mastectomy, only t w o of 27 serial tests showed low RFC. Twenty-six stage I1 patients receiving L-phenylalanine mustard (L-PAM) therapy after mastectomy were depressed in 18 of 90From the