Indirect leukocyte migration inhibition reactions to a 3-M KCl extract of lung adenocarcinoma by lung cancer patients.

Mononuclear (MN) cells from the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients were tested for their ability to respond to a 3-M KCl extract of adenocarcinoma of lung with the use of an indirect leukocyte migration inhibition (LMl) assay. Antigen-stimulated MN cell cultures were evaluated for leukocyte inhibitory factor production by their ability to inhibit the migration of indicator polymorphonuclear cells from agarose droplets. When supernatants were prepared in conventional round-bottomed tubes (5X10(6) cell/tube), 25 of 44 (57%) lung cancer patients had positive indirect LMl responses to the 7661 antigen as compared to only 2 of the 30 (7%) normal donors. When supernatants were prepared in conical microtubes, with 10 times fewer MN cells, similar results were obtained. Patients with all histologic types of lung cancer had a similar incidence of reactivity, and reactivity of untreated patients did not appear to be related to stage of disease or degree of tumor burden. Surgical removal of the tumor appeared to decrease the incidence of reactivity in the 1- to 12-month postoperative period. These results strongly suggest that the LMl reactivity against lung tumor extracts is lymphokine mediated, inducing cellular responses by the patients against such antigens.