Clinical features and inhibitory activity of regional lymph node cells on the cytotoxicity of autologous killer cells in patients with primary lung cancer

: The effect of regional lymph node cells on the cytotoxicity of killer lymphocytes against autologous tumor cells was investigated in 42 patients with primary lung cancer by a 4-h 51Cr-release assay. The cytotoxicities of killer lymphocytes against autologous tumor cells were either significantly inhibited, enhanced, or remained unchanged by the addition of regional lymph node cells in 27, 4 and 11 cases, respectively. Correlation between the inhibitory activity (IA) and the clinical features was studied in terms of age, tumor histologic type, post-surgical TNM stage and chemotherapy. Patients less than 50 years old, those with adenocarcinoma, and those in the N2 stage showed significant inhibition of cytotoxicity, indicating suppressor cell predominance in these cases. Although no significant difference of IA was observed between the stages of lung cancer, T-factor groups, and groups with or without chemotherapy, considerably greater deviation of IA was observed in the chemotherapy group, indicating the possible influence of the drug treatment on the cytotoxicity of lymphocytes.