In vitro lymphocyte response of patients with uterine cancer as related to clinical stage and radiotherapy

Thirty-one patients with uterine cancer in different clinical stages were tested to determine numbers and immunologic responsiveness of their lymphocytes in peripheral-blood cultures to mitogenic stimulation. Seventeen patients were tested also at the end of radiotherapy and 16 patients were tested 3–6 months after radiotherapy to determine effects of radiation on responsiveness. The mean responses of the total group of untreated patients to phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A (primarily T-cell mitogens) were only 59% and 56% of the responses of healthy controls. Eleven patients in Stage I had responses near control values, but six Stage IV patients had only 27 and 44% of the control responses. Mean response to pokeweed mitogen (primarily a B-cell mitogen) in cultures of untreated patients was not significantly less than control response. Responsiveness to all three mitogens declined in cultures of patients in all stages during radiotherapy to about 10% of control values and remained near 25% of control values 3–6 months after treatment. Decreased responsiveness of patients after therapy possibly results from radiation death of circulating lymphocytes. Reduced responsiveness after therapy for patients in early disease stages is probably not indicative of poor prognosis since excellent survival rates are reported for such patients.