Immunological characterization and clinical significance of low mobility cells appearing in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of cancer patients.
The characteristics of low mobility cells (LMC) in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of cancer patients were studied using a Parmoquant-L, a fully automated electrophoresis instrument, and a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS). The L/H ratio (%) of LMC (less than 0.95 micron/s/V/cm) to high mobility cells (HMC) (greater than or equal to 0.95) was used to analyze the electrophoretic mobility (EPM) histogram of PBMC. In the cancer patient, the L/H ratio increased as a result of the appearance of LMC. As the ratio closely correlated with clinical stage of cancer, recurrence of cancer, and performance status in the patients, the method is a useful parameter for prognosis of cancer, practically, for early detection of recurrence in the follow-up study of cancer patients. The EPM of monocytes and subsets of lymphocytes was determined to characterize LMC. Monocytes were in LMC. T-Cells such as helper/inducer (Leu-3+), suppressor (Leu-2+Leu-15+) and cytotoxic (Leu-2+Leu-15-) cells and natural killer (NK) cells (Leu-7+ or Leu-11+) were in HMC. The percentage of monocytes correlated significantly with the mean EPM of PBMC. In cancer patients, the percentage of monocytes increased significantly. On the other hand, suppressor T-cells did not increase enough to account for LMC. The appearance of suppressor T-cells correlated with that of monocytes. These results suggest that LMC in cancer patients consisted of mainly monocytes rather than suppressor T-cells.
Mori
T
T
Department of Surgery, Komagome Metropolitan Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
Shimizu
M
M
Iwaguchi
T
T
D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002469:Cell Separation; D004586:Electrophoresis; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D011379:Prognosis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology