The doubtful relevance of nonspecific immune reactivity in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region.

Nonspecific immune reactivity (lymphocyte stimulation with PHA, PWM; % T-cells; absolute T-cell levels; skin reactivity to DNCB) was determined in 30 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region and in 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The tests were carried out in each patient at 4-week intervals for at least 1 year. The tumor patients were regularly controlled over a period of 5 years. A reduced nonspecific immune reactivity was detected for tumor patients as compared with healthy controls. However, there was no correlation between the follow-up tests on unspecific immune reactivity and the clinical course of the disease. Moreover it was not possible--on the basis of pretherapeutic unspecific immune reactivity and 5 years' clinical follow-up--to make any prognostic statement for the tumor patients tested.