J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 79(12): 1518-1525, 1978

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Original article

EVALUATION OF LYMPHOCYTE TRANSFORMATION USING WHOLE BLOOD CULTURE IN PATIENTS WITH PRIMARY LUNG CANCER : CORRELATION WITH DNCB REACTIVITY

Lymphocyte responses to phytohemagglutinin using whole blood culture were evaluated in 38 lung cancer patients before therapy and 26 patients over 50 years of age with benign thoracic lesions. The lowest responses were seen mostly in patients with unresectable lung cancer although the mean responses of either the cancer patints and the controls or the patients with resectable cancer and those with unresectable one were not significantly different. An excellent correlation was observed between lymphocyte responses to PHA and concurrently investigated DNCB reactions : the mean lymphocyte responses of the positive DNCB reactors and the negative ones with lung cancer were significantly different (p＜0.01), and 8 per cent (2/24) * of lung cancer patients with positive DNCB reactions and 57 per cent (8/14) * of those with negative DNCB reactions were found to have low responsiveness to PHA (*P＜0.01). The use of nonseparated blood retains blood cells in natural proportions, which should better reflect the immunologic reactivity of the subject.
Whole blood culture assay of lymphocyte function appears to be particularly suitable for clinical testing of immune deficiencies in lung cancer patients.

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