Kenady D E, Chretien P B, Potvin C, Simon R M, Alexander J C, Goldstein A L
Cancer. 1977 Feb;39(2):642-52. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197702)39:2<642::aid-cncr2820390241>3.0.co;2-v.
The effect of thymosin in vitro on percent T cells was determined in 388 blood specimens from patients with head and neck, mediastinal, and pelvic malignancies during radiation therapy, in 94 untreated patients with these malignancies, and 277 normal adults. Changes in percent T cell levels after incubation of lymphocytes with thymosin did not correlate with tumor histology or cumulative radiation dose, but in all groups correlated with radiation portal and initial T cell levels. T cell levels increased by a similar increment in normals and in the untreated patients. During irradiation, the mean levels after incubation with thymosin did not change in patients with head and neck and pelvic malignancies, but in patients with mediastinal malignancies the levels increased significantly more than in normals. For a given T cell level, the increase in patients with mediastinal malignancies was greater than in patients with pelvic malignancies, and as a group was greater than in patients with head and neck malignancies. The results can be explained by an increase in circulating thymosin-responsive lymphocytes during mediastinal irradiation due to suppression of a function of the thymus important for maturation of these cells, and a decrease in these cells during pelvic irradiation due to a deleterious effect on precursors in pelvic bone marrow. The results thus provide a rationale for clinical trials to assess the efficacy of thymosin in averting declines of T cell levels in patients receiving mediastinal irradiation.
在接受放射治疗的388例头颈部、纵隔和盆腔恶性肿瘤患者的血样、94例未经治疗的此类恶性肿瘤患者的血样以及277例正常成年人的血样中，测定了胸腺素体外对T细胞百分比的影响。淋巴细胞与胸腺素孵育后T细胞水平的变化与肿瘤组织学或累积放射剂量无关，但在所有组中均与放射野和初始T细胞水平相关。正常人和未经治疗的患者中，T细胞水平以相似的增幅升高。在放疗期间，头颈部和盆腔恶性肿瘤患者与胸腺素孵育后的平均水平未发生变化，但纵隔恶性肿瘤患者的水平升高幅度明显高于正常人。对于给定的T细胞水平，纵隔恶性肿瘤患者的升高幅度大于盆腔恶性肿瘤患者，总体上大于头颈部恶性肿瘤患者。这些结果可以解释为，纵隔放疗期间循环中对胸腺素敏感的淋巴细胞增加，这是由于对这些细胞成熟至关重要的胸腺功能受到抑制；而盆腔放疗期间这些细胞减少，是由于对盆腔骨髓中的前体细胞产生了有害影响。因此，这些结果为评估胸腺素在避免接受纵隔放疗患者T细胞水平下降方面疗效的临床试验提供了理论依据。
