Study of tumor-associated blastogenic reactivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes and regional lymph node lymphocytes in human malignancy.

The in vitro blastogenic responses of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and the regional lymph node lymphocytes (LNL) from cancer patients to autochthonous tumor cells (TC) were investigated. A positive lymphocyte response to autochthonous TC was observed in 23% (6/26) for PBL and 34% (9/26) for LNL. There seemed to be an inverse relationship between PBL and LNL responses to autochthonous TC. There was no significant difference between PBL and LNL responses to autochthonous TC according to the primary site of the tumor. Analysis of PBL and LNL responses to autochthonous TC according to the extent of the disease revealed that LNL were definitely more reactive than PBL in patients with a primary tumor that had not spread to the regional lymph nodes.