The cytochemical reaction of alpha-naphthyl-acetate esterase (ANAE) in peripheral blood lymphocytes of human cancer.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from neoplasic patients have been investigated by cytochemical analyses of alpha-naphthyl-acetate-esterase (ANAE), marker of both cellular types and differentiation, maturation stages in relation with immunobiologic background of cancer. Our studies employed 32 cancerous human patients and compared them to 13 healthy people used as controls. The cytoenzymatic analysis was performed on whole blood samples, mononuclear cell concentrates (PBL) and rosetted ET and E45 preparations. ANAE dot like reaction, marker for mature T lymphocytes, considered by some authors to be specific to T helper lymphocytes, is present in a reduced number of lymphocytes, markedly below the control values. ANAE dot like positive lymphocytes reached average values of 22.5% (12-30%) in peripheral blood samples, 22% (6-32%) in mononuclear cell concentrate (PBL) and 21.3% (12-30%) in rosetted ET preparations, respectively. Comparing the cytoenzymatic data to those immunologically obtained with rosetted ET, we found out that the average values of ANAE dot like reacted lymphocytes, i.e. 22% (22.9-24.3%) were much lower than those of ET lymphocytes rosetted with sheep red blood cells, i.e. 60% (32-75%). The percentage of ANAE dot like reacted lymphocytes was also lower than that of T helper lymphocytes (40.2%). Therefore, there is a dissociation between ET rosetting capacity and the expression of ANAE dot like enzymatic reaction, the latter being more reduced than the former. Our results indicate that the deficiency present in ANAE dot like reaction is due to a constant important decrease of ANAE dot like positive lymphocytes, what suggests a functional deficiency of T helper lymphocytes in neoplasic patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)