Immunologic studies on cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract.
Two interesting findings have emerged from these studies. First, the NK susceptibility of EBV-related cell lines is dependent upon the state of the virus within the cells. EBV-positive cells were more competitive than their EBV-negative counterparts, and induction of the viral cycle in the EBV-positive cells further increased their ability to inhibit NK reactivity against K562. The implications of this finding with regard to surveillance against, and treatment of, EBV-related disease were discussed. Second, the preliminary data concerning the NK status of patients with head and neck cancer appear interesting, with the patients falling into two relatively distinct clusters of either high or low reactivity. The significane of this clustering will be determined by enlarging the study sample and performing longitudinal NK studies of the patients.
D000818:Animals; D000920:Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000276:immunology*