title: The respiratory burst of neutrophils, a prognostic parameter in head and neck cancer?
abstract: Flow cytometric measurements of the respiratory burst of granulocytes (PMN) from 27 patients with advanced carcinomas of the head and neck revealed two types of responses to a stimulus with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) before, during, and after radiochemotherapy. (1) The majority (74%) of patients responded quantitatively normal (31-fold increase of fluorescence intensity after PMA stimulation, as in controls) but exhibited functional subpopulations in 63% of samples with varying degrees of hyperreactive PMN. (2) A subgroup of 7 patients did not respond to PMA before and during treatment ("nonresponders"), but in two cases responded after therapy. Survival analysis revealed a significantly (P less than 0.02) decreased mean survival time of nonresponders (36 weeks vs greater than 70 weeks in "responders"). Thus, the respiratory burst of PMN could serve as a prognostic parameter in head and neck cancer.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiobiology, Federal Armed Forces Medical Academy, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kaffenberger
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Clasen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van Beuningen
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D016897:Respiratory Burst; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate