Disease Stage Related In Vitro Responsiveness of Peripheral Blood T-lymphocytes in Patients with Head and Neck Carcinoma

The in vitro responsiveness of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) T lymphocytes was studied in 81 patients with limited or extended head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), as judged by T, N and T+N stages. Patients included in the study were males below 80 years of age, without auto-immune disease or cachexia, who were not taking any immuno-active medication at the time of diagnosis. The patients were divided into groups according to TNM stage T0-2 vs T3-4, N0-1 vs N2-3 or T+N0-3 vs T+N4-7. When cells from patients with early and late stage, according to T, N or T+N stage, were compared, we found a decreased level of mitogen stimulated T-cells and decreased spontaneous proliferation with increasing disease stage. The same was true if the in vitro