Lympho-reticuloendothelial activity of early gastric carcinoma.

The lympho-reticuloendothelial activities of 54 cases of early gastric carcinoma were studied. Morphological blastoid transformation of lymphocyte by the addition of phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P) was disturbed in half of the patients. The DNA synthesizing activity of lymphocyte was not stimulated by PHA-P in the cases of advanced carcinoma but it was stimulated in the cases of early carcinoma. The tuberculin reaction was negative in 30% of the cases of early carcinoma. The reticuloendothelial system (RES) activity studied through the congo red method revealed that 86% of the cases of early carcinoma had disturbed RES function.