Comparative study of percentage of T-lymphocytes in blood in patients with breast and thyroid cancer.

The authors have studied the percentage of T-lymphocytes detected by means of an acid non-specific esterase technique (ANAE) in venous blood in patients with malignant tumors of mammary and thyroid glands. The examination was concentrated especially on a group of patients with both metastatic and non-metastatic tumors. The examination was performed before and after operation. It was found the the percentage of T-lymphocytes had been significantly higher in non-metastasizing tumors than in healthy individuals and lower both in metastasizing tumors and healthy controls. The percentage of T-lymphocytes in tumor-patients is relatively higher prior to operation than after it. Although the interpretation of these results is not easy, however, one may presume, that behavior of T-lymphocytes is a signal for alterations in immune system of the patients; further and more specific investigation is therefore urgent. This method is very useful in practice for monitoring mammary gland and thyroid tumors and perhaps other malignancies.