Mantovani G, Serri F G, Macciò A, Castelli P, Benedetti P, Scambia G, Santus S, Paderi R, Murtas M G, Ferreli A
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cagliari, Italy.
Cancer Detect Prev. 1989;13(5-6):323-32.
In an attempt to identify lymphocyte subsets possibly involved in the response to malignant cells, we have studied the lymphocyte surface phenotype by using a panel of monoclonal antibodies on both peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and histologically proven metastatic and nonmetastatic (i.e., "hyperplastic") axillary lymph node lymphocytes (LNL) from eight breast cancer patients. Furthermore, we carried out a functional study by evaluating the response to polyclonal mitogens of the PBL and of the LNL of the same patients. A group of 30 healthy subjects, age and sex matched, were selected as controls for PBL. Six of them, who underwent surgery for nonneoplastic conditions, were selected as controls for LNL. The responsiveness of breast cancer patients' PBL to polyclonal mitogens phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (Con A) was significantly lower as compared with the control response. The responsiveness of breast cancer patients' metastatic LNL was not different from control LNL for PHA, and it was lower than control LNL for Con A, while the responsiveness of the same metastatic LNL was higher than that of nonmetastatic (i.e., hyperplastic) LNL of patients. Furthermore, the response of hyperplastic LNL was always lower than that of control LNL. The responsiveness of patients' PBL was always lower than that of metastatic LNL, while the responsiveness of patients' PBL vs. hyperplastic LNL was at variance. Regarding the surface phenotype of PBL, there was no difference between those of breast cancer patients and controls concerning the T-cells subsets, while the Leu 7, CD 21 and DR antigens were significantly higher among the breast cancer patients. No significant differences were found between patient metastatic and hyperplastic LNL or between control LNL and patient metastatic or hyperplastic LNL, respectively; only the CD 4 antigen was higher in metastatic than in hyperplastic LNL. A comparison of this surface phenotype between PBL and either metastatic or hyperplastic LNL of breast cancer patients showed values almost constantly significantly higher for PBL vs. either metastatic or hyperplastic LNL, respectively. The results of our study suggest that there is no change in the local-regional immunocompetent cell subsets that may be related to metastasis of breast cancer to regional nodes and to the progression of disease and that circulating T cells in breast cancer include cells expressing activation markers but not showing significant changes in the proportion of entire subpopulations.
为了确定可能参与对恶性细胞反应的淋巴细胞亚群，我们使用一组单克隆抗体，对8例乳腺癌患者的外周血淋巴细胞（PBL）以及经组织学证实的转移性和非转移性（即“增生性”）腋窝淋巴结淋巴细胞（LNL）进行了淋巴细胞表面表型研究。此外，我们通过评估同一患者PBL和LNL对多克隆有丝分裂原的反应进行了功能研究。选择30名年龄和性别匹配的健康受试者作为PBL的对照。其中6名因非肿瘤性疾病接受手术的受试者被选作LNL的对照。与对照反应相比，乳腺癌患者PBL对多克隆有丝分裂原植物血凝素（PHA）和刀豆球蛋白A（Con A）的反应性显著降低。乳腺癌患者转移性LNL对PHA的反应性与对照LNL无差异，对Con A的反应性低于对照LNL，而同一转移性LNL的反应性高于患者的非转移性（即增生性）LNL。此外，增生性LNL的反应性始终低于对照LNL。患者PBL的反应性始终低于转移性LNL，而患者PBL与增生性LNL的反应性则有所不同。关于PBL的表面表型，乳腺癌患者和对照在T细胞亚群方面没有差异，而乳腺癌患者中Leu 7、CD 21和DR抗原显著更高。患者转移性和增生性LNL之间，或对照LNL与患者转移性或增生性LNL之间，分别未发现显著差异；仅转移性LNL中的CD 4抗原高于增生性LNL。乳腺癌患者PBL与转移性或增生性LNL之间的这种表面表型比较显示，PBL相对于转移性或增生性LNL的值几乎始终显著更高。我们的研究结果表明，局部区域免疫活性细胞亚群没有变化，这可能与乳腺癌转移至区域淋巴结及疾病进展有关，并且乳腺癌患者循环中的T细胞包括表达激活标志物但整个亚群比例未显示显著变化的细胞。
