Augmentation in cytotoxicity of lymphnode lymphocytes by OK-432.

It has been demonstrated that natural killer (NK) cell activity of lymphnode lymphocytes (LNL) is very low and hardly augmented by interferon. In this study, OK-432 was injected into the gastric cancer mass through endoscopy one week before the operation, through which NK activity of LNL was significantly increased. A single cell assay could divide the OK-432-injected patients into two groups; responder and non-responder. In responders, the increased activity induced by OK-432 was found also in the distal lymphnodes.