Low mobility T cells in the peripheral blood of cancer patients: surface modification and mobility.

To elucidate how low-mobility T cells emerge in the peripheral blood of cancer patients, lymphocytes from normal individuals were treated with cancer patients' plasma, immunosuppressive (IS) substance with or without interleukin-2, or neuraminidase. A delay in cell mobility was induced by IS substance and neuraminidase treatments, which degrade the cell surface charge. Compared to the normal mobility pattern of lymphocytes, patterns induced by these treatments were characterized by a general shift of the fast cell peak to the left side. These patterns were different from those of cancer patients in terms of the inverse relationship between slow and fast peaks. These results indicate that, though humoral factors in the peripheral blood of cancer patients take a partial role, other mechanisms might operate to induce the characteristic mobility pattern of lymphocytes. One of the possibilities, the emerging of a special T cell subset recruited from the thymus, is discussed.