title: Immunological characterization and clinical significance of low mobility cells appearing in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of cancer patients.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Komagome Metropolitan Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwaguchi
mesh_terms: 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