title: Evaluation of cytokine levels in whole cell cultures of patients with gynaecological tumors as diagnostic parameters.
abstract: The measurement of the cytokine production of activated lymphocytes and monocytes supposedly provides a tool for evaluating the actual status of the cellular immunity potential of a person. We measured the levels of IFN-gamma and IL-1-alpha in the 4 day post-induction supernatants of mitogen-stimulated unseparated blood cell cultures by a rapid and sensitive immunoassay using various monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. With this reproducible and easy-to-handle system we tested 90 patients with primary gynaecological tumors and the same number of age-matched female controls. In the blood cell cultures of the tumor patients significantly lower values of IFN-gamma and IL-1-alpha were observed, although lymphocyte and monocyte counts were almost normal. There was also a difference in the IFN-gamma-levels between the four tumors, in as much as patients with ovarian and endometrial carcinomas had significantly lower values than patients with breast and cervical carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunobiology, University of Freiburg, F.R.G.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Elsässer-Beile
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: von Kleist
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gallati
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pfleiderer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000737:chemistry*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D005833:Genital Neoplasms, Female / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D007375:Interleukin-1; D007371:Interferon-gamma