Interleukin 2 and alpha interferon induced in vitro modulation of spontaneous cell mediated cytotoxicity in patients with cancer of the uterine cervix undergoing radiotherapy.
In vitro modulation of spontaneous cell mediated cytotoxicity by interferon and interleukin 2 was carried out using peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with cancer of the uterine cervix before and at different intervals after commencement of radiation treatment. A total of 150 patients with various stages of the disease were included and cytotoxicity was measured using the single cell cytotoxic assay. These results indicate a beneficial effect in vitro of interleukin 2 and interferon in augmenting spontaneous cell mediated cytotoxicity, a possibly vital antitumour immune mechanism in patients with relatively early cervix cancer. Natural killer cell, lymphokine activated killer cell and interferon activated killer cell activity was depressed immediately following radiotherapy. The activity of these cell types later on increased above pretreatment levels in patients with stages I, IIA and IIB. A similar rebound above pretreatment levels was not observed in patients with stages III and IV.
Radhakrishna Pillai
M
M
Division of Immunology, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, India.
Balaram
P
P
Padmanabhan
T K
TK
Abraham
T
T
Krishnan Nair
M
M
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000276:immunology*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000276:immunology*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology / Q000528:radiation effects; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy
D007370:Interferon Type I; D007376:Interleukin-2