Immunological study on renal cell carcinoma in dialysis patients with acquired cystic disease of kidneys

: The immunological study of the major histocompatibility complex (class I, class II and DR antigens), tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), regional lymph node lymphocytes (RLNL) and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) was evaluated on the basis of immunohistochemical staining using monoclonal antibodies of each subset of lymphocytes in a series of 16 patients with renal cell carcinoma. Two renal cell carcinomas in dialysis patients with acquired cystic disease of the kidneys (ACDK) were also included in this study. With regard to the immunological environment, a comparative study between renal cell carcinoma accompanied with ACDK and 14 other renal cell carcinoma was carried out. The results are described below: 1) With regard to the expression of MHC antigens in tumour cells, the degrees of expression of MHC class I, class II and DR-antigen in case 1 were higher than that of the other 14 renal cell carcinomas. On the other hand, no expression of MHC was detected in case 2. 2) As to the subsets of TIL, the CD25 (IL-2 receptor) was not expressed in all the renal cell carcinoma. As to the T cell receptor (TCR-alpha/beta chain), the degree of expression was the same in case 1 and the other 14 cases. On the other hand, no TCR was detected in the case 2. As to the other subsets of TIL (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD16 and CD20), the rates of the infiltration were the same in case 1 and the other 14 cases, but those in case 2 were lesser than in all other 14 cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)