Impaired immunocompetence in patients with malignant gliomas: the possible role of Tg-lymphocyte subpopulations.
T-lymphocyte subpopulations (Tg or "suppressor cells" and Tm or "helper cells") in the peripheral blood of 16 patients with malignant intracranial gliomas were analyzed. The number of Tm-lymphocytes was very close to normal in both pre- and postoperative samples, whereas Tg-lymphocytes were significantly increased preoperatively (18.55 +/- 1.11 vs. 12.72 +/- 1.19 p less than 0.001) and were still slightly higher than normal after operation and radiation treatment. These preliminary findings suggest a possible role of T-suppressor lymphocytes in the impairment of cell-mediated immunocompetence that has been observed repeatedly in patients with malignant gliomas.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007121:Immunocompetence; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000378:metabolism*; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000378:metabolism; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011961:Receptors, Fc / Q000378:metabolism*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology
D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D011961:Receptors, Fc