Spontaneous rosette formation in patients with oral cancer.

The percentage of "total" E-rosettes was studied in the peripheral blood of 38 untreated patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, performing the test at 4 degrees C and at 20 degrees C. At 4 degrees C the quantity of the E-rosettes was higher than at 20 degrees C. The mean value of E-rosettes was strongly reduced only in 17 of these patients with metastases in the regional lymph nodes when compared with a group of 40 normal individuals as well as with the group of remaining 21 patients with localized cancer (P less than 0.001), whatever the temperature of testing. The mean percentage of 20 degrees C E-rosettes was significantly higher in patients with localized disease than in the 22 normal donors (50.2 +/- 3.0% vs 41.8 +/- 2.0%, P less than 0.01) but in favour of 4 degrees C E-rosettes the difference was not significant (57.3 +/- 2.8% vs 54.2 +/- 2.9%). Thus there was a clear correlation between changes of the T cell level and the clinical stage of the disease.