Nio Y, Shiraishi T, Imai S, Tsubono M, Morimoto H, Tseng C C, Tobe T
First Department of Surgery, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
J Clin Lab Immunol. 1991 Jul;35(3):97-108.
The in vivo function of NK cells is still uncertain, and there are various contradictory reports on NK cells in gastrointestinal cancer. In the present study the activity and proportion of NK cells (Leu 11 + cells) in peripheral blood were assessed in 71 patients with gastric cancer, and analysed with respect to the clinical and histopathological factors, such as the clinical stage, tumor size, degree of invasion, metastasis, histology, etc. There were no differences in the proportions and activities of NK cells between normal volunteers and gastric cancer patients. A low NK cell activity was associated with early gastric cancers (carcinoma in the mucosa or submucosa) less than 2 cm in diameter, large advanced tumors (invasion beyond the muscularis propria) greater than 8 cm in diameter, and metastasis of adjacent regional (perigastric) nodes. Liver metastasis did not affect the NK cell activity, however a high NK activity was found in patients with peritoneal dissemination. The NK activity did not correlate with the proportion of Leu 11 + cells in normal volunteers or in patients with early gastric cancer, however the activity and proportion of NK cells correlated with each other in patients with advanced gastric cancer. These results suggest that the preoperative evaluation of circulating NK cells in gastric cancer patients may be beneficial to assess the extent of nodal metastasis, the degree of tumor invasion, and peritoneal dissemination.
自然杀伤细胞（NK细胞）的体内功能仍不明确，关于胃肠道癌症中NK细胞的报道也存在各种矛盾之处。在本研究中，我们评估了71例胃癌患者外周血中NK细胞（Leu 11 +细胞）的活性和比例，并分析了其与临床和组织病理学因素的关系，如临床分期、肿瘤大小、侵袭程度、转移情况、组织学等。正常志愿者和胃癌患者之间NK细胞的比例和活性没有差异。NK细胞活性低与直径小于2 cm的早期胃癌（黏膜或黏膜下层癌）、直径大于8 cm的大的进展期肿瘤（侵犯超过固有肌层）以及相邻区域（胃周）淋巴结转移有关。肝转移不影响NK细胞活性，然而在有腹膜播散的患者中发现NK活性较高。在正常志愿者或早期胃癌患者中，NK活性与Leu 11 +细胞的比例无关，然而在进展期胃癌患者中，NK细胞的活性和比例相互关联。这些结果表明，术前评估胃癌患者循环NK细胞可能有助于评估淋巴结转移程度、肿瘤侵袭程度和腹膜播散情况。
