title: [Immunological status of alveolar macrophages in patients with lung cancer and benign pulmonary diseases].
abstract: This is a report of the study on the immunological status of alveolar macrophages (aM phi) in patients with lung cancer (LC, n = 27) and benign pulmonary diseases (BD, n = 26). Patients were undergone bronchoalveolar lavage by fiberoptic bronchoscopy. aM phi in the lavage fluid isolated by adherence on plastic surface were examined in vitro for their cytostatic and cytolytic activities against tumor target cells, secretion of interleukin 1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), intracellular IL-1 activity and mRNA expression of IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha. aM phi, both non-activated and activated, were shown to be highly cytostatic against P815 cells by 3H-TdR post-labelling assay. There was no statistical difference between the LC and BD group. As shown by isotope release assay, regardless of being activated or not, aM phi were not cytolytic against P815 and NS-1 cells in both groups of patients. TNF activity could be demonstrated in the culture supernatants of aM stimulated with LPS. Statistically, the TNF activity was not different in the two groups of patients. Spontaneous release of TNF activity was occasionally detected in unstimulated aM phi. While both intracellular and extracellular IL-1 activity of unstimulated aM phi was demonstrated in the two patient groups, the former activity was 1 to 5 times as high as the latter. When stimulated with LPS, there was some increase in extracellular but not intracellular IL-1 activity. mRNA expression of IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha by dot blot hybridization was demonstrable in aM phi from both patient groups irrespective of activation. These results indicate that the immune status of aM phi in lung cancer patients examined does not differ from that in patients with benign pulmonary diseases.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000276:immunology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008875:Middle Aged; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D007375:Interleukin-1; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha