[The response of peripheral blood lymphocytes from lung cancer patients to in-vitro treatment with recombinant interleukin-2].

The cytotoxic activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes of 135 lung cancer patients was studied. A wide range of cytotoxicity values was shown--from 0 to 88%. During the randomized investigation of these patients no strong correlation was found between the levels of cytotoxicity and the cancer stages. A certain tendency of increasing the number of patients with weak cytotoxic activity upon progressing disease was followed. The lymphocytes with a strong natural killer activity did not react on the in vitro incubation with interleukin-2. The lymphocytes with a strong was obtained when the lymphocytes with the lowest cytotoxicity levels were incubated with this immunomodulator.