title: Effect of treatment on the immunological status of women with advanced breast cancer.
abstract: An immunological profile has been serially studied in 72 patients with advanced breast cancer during the course of a randomized trial of chemotherapy and hormonal manipulation. DNCB+ patients were more likely to respond to either therapy, but no other test was predictive of response. In the follow-up period all chemotherapy patients had a reduction in white-cell count which was significantly greater in those responding to treatment. None of the other tests (phytohaemagglutinin response, immunoglobulins G, A and M, or Mantoux test) demonstrated changes that could be related to treatment or response, but there was a gradual unexplained fall in IgM levels in all groups the study progressed. It is concluded that the chemotherapeutic regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, adriamycin and 5-fluorouracil) is relatively non-immunosuppressive, and that hormonal therapy (oophorectomy, tamoxifen or androgens) had no detectable effect on the immune response.
mesh_terms: D000917:Antibody Formation; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D004137:Dinitrochlorobenzene / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000276:immunology; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008593:Menopause; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D014374:Tuberculin Test
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004137:Dinitrochlorobenzene; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D007136:Immunoglobulins