Monocyte function in cervical carcinoma: plasma inhibitor of monocyte chemotaxis.
Blood monocyte function was tested in 43 untreated patients with carcinoma of the cervix (stages Ib to IIIb) and 50 age-matched controls. Monocyte counts, adhesion to glass, spreading on glass, phagocytosis and killing of Candida albicans, and chemotaxis under agarose were not significantly different between the patient and control groups. In 65% of a further series of 17 patient/control pairs, the plasma of cervical carcinoma patients was shown to contain a cell-directed inhibitor of monocyte chemotaxis. The accumulated evidence indicates that production of such factors by malignant tumors is an important mechanism in counteracting mononuclear phagocyte defense.
D002176:Candida albicans / Q000276:immunology; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002634:Chemotaxis, Leukocyte; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D010587:Phagocytosis; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology