In vivo cell-mediated immunity in Chinese patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Delayed hypersensitivity to antigens derived from four EBV-related (KHLY 28, Raji, F265 and NC37) and one EBV-unrelated (Molt) T-lymphoid cell lines and to standard antigens (Trichophyton, Candida albicans and streptokinase/streptodornase) was measured in 104 NPC patients and 24 patients with other cancers. Of the NPC patients with non-disseminated disease, 55/86 (63.2%) had a positive skin reaction to HKLY 28 extract, compared with only 1/18 (5.6%) OC patients with non-disseminated disease. The frequencies of these NPC patients with positive skin reactions to the other cell-line extracts were significantly lower (1.7-5.4%). From the preliminary results of a longitudinal study, skin testing with this particular crude membrane extract from HKLY 28 cells appears to be of little practical value in monitoring the clinical evolution of NPC, although a significant association between clinical evolution and certain patterns of skin reactivity response to the extract was found in about two-thirds of the cases analysed.