Papenhausen P R, Emeson E E, Croft C B, Borowiecki B
Cancer. 1984 Jan 15;53(2):267-71. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19840115)53:2<267::aid-cncr2820530214>3.0.co;2-8.
Ferritins, a group of isomeric proteins that have important functions in iron metabolism and storage, have been demonstrated to be carcinoembryonic antigens. It has been recently shown that a subpopulation of lymphocytes from the peripheral blood of patients with Hodgkin's disease or breast cancer bear ferritin on their surface membranes. In view of the potential diagnostic and prognostic value of ascertaining the number of ferritin-bearing lymphocytes, the authors developed a simple indirect immunofluorescent technique for identifying them and used this technique to examine the peripheral blood lymphocytes of 44 patients with carcinomas of the head and neck (26), colon (14), and lung (4). It was found that patients with cancer had a mean percentage of 10% ferritin-bearing lymphocytes in their peripheral blood as compared with 3.1% in controls. Ferritin binding did not appear to be influenced by a cell's capacity to form sheep erythrocyte (E) rosettes since no correlation could be found between the percentages of lymphocytes bearing ferritin and those forming three different varieties of E-rosettes. There appeared to be no correlation of the percentages of ferritin-bearing lymphocytes with clinical staging except for a small, but significant (P less than 0.05), increase in the number of patients with head and neck cancer and nodal metastases. Although the functional significance of ferritin-bearing lymphocytes is currently unknown, the appearance of this subpopulation of cells in the blood appears to be associated with cancer. This assay may prove to be useful as a diagnostic tool, as a prognostic tool, or as a means of identifying patients at a risk for developing cancer and, therefore, it deserves further exploration.
铁蛋白是一组在铁代谢和储存中具有重要功能的异构蛋白，已被证明是癌胚抗原。最近研究表明，霍奇金病或乳腺癌患者外周血中的一部分淋巴细胞在其表面膜上携带铁蛋白。鉴于确定携带铁蛋白的淋巴细胞数量具有潜在的诊断和预后价值，作者开发了一种简单的间接免疫荧光技术来识别它们，并使用该技术检查了44例头颈部癌（26例）、结肠癌（14例）和肺癌（4例）患者的外周血淋巴细胞。结果发现，癌症患者外周血中携带铁蛋白的淋巴细胞平均百分比为10%，而对照组为3.1%。铁蛋白结合似乎不受细胞形成绵羊红细胞（E）花环能力的影响，因为在携带铁蛋白的淋巴细胞百分比与形成三种不同类型E花环的淋巴细胞百分比之间未发现相关性。除了头颈部癌伴淋巴结转移的患者数量有少量但显著（P小于0.05）增加外，携带铁蛋白的淋巴细胞百分比与临床分期之间似乎没有相关性。尽管目前尚不清楚携带铁蛋白的淋巴细胞的功能意义，但血液中这一亚群细胞的出现似乎与癌症有关。该检测方法可能被证明是一种有用的诊断工具、预后工具，或作为识别有患癌风险患者的手段，因此值得进一步探索。
