[Cytotoxic activity of autologous lymphocytes against lung cancer cells; correlation of prognosis and recurrence pattern].
Cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes cultured in IL-2 against autologous primary lung cancer cells was studied in relation to curativity, prognosis and relapse rate. A total of 51 patients, 44 males and 7 females, consisting of those with adenocarcinoma (n = 27), squamous cell carcinoma (n = 19), large cell carcinoma (n = 2), small cell carcinoma (n = 1), lung sarcoma (n = 1), and carcinoid (n = 1), were evaluated. Pathological stages of the patients were stage I (n = 16), stage II (n = 1), stage III (n = 28), and stage IV (n = 6). Thirteen patients (25.5%) underwent curative surgery, 23 patients (45.1%) received relative curative surgery and 15 patients (29.4%) received non-curative surgery. The mean value of cytotoxic activity in the patients who received curative surgery was 34.7 +/- 15.3%, relative curative surgery 26.5 +/- 18.9%, and non-curative surgery 42.8 +/- 22.3%. Among the patients who underwent curative and relative curative surgery, 23 patients survived more than 2 years and 13 patients died of cancer recurrence. Mean value of cytotoxic activity in the former (36.7 +/- 15.9%) was significantly (p less than 0.01) higher than that in the latter (17.1 +/- 14.7%). Positive rate (percentage of patients whose CA exceeded 15%) of the former (86.9%) was also higher than that of the latter (46.1%). Comparison between the survival curves of the positive cases (CA 15.0%) and negative cases (CA less than 15.0%) revealed a significantly better prognosis for the former (generalized Wilcoxon test: W/square root VarW = 2.198). The mean cytotoxic activity in the cases of local recurrence (25.7 +/- 16.6%, n = 7) was higher (p less than 0.10) than that in the cases with distant metastases (9.3 +/- 6.3%).
D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011379:Prognosis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*