[Cellular immunologic studies in pediatric and juvenile thyroid cancer].

Reported in this paper are findings recorded from nine thyroid cancer patients in childhood and adolescence. T-cell sub-populations were determined by means of the rosette method and by reference to monoclonal antibodies. The investigations were concerned also with detectability of tumour antigens and with cytotoxicity. The immune activity exhibited by young patients was better than that recordable from adults. These findings are likely to suggest relative benignity of thyroid cancer, when surgically treated in childhood and adolescence.