title: Effect of cancer chemotherapeutic agents on the chemiluminescence of human granulocytes.
abstract: 21 unilateral breast cancer patients taking different combinations of chemotherapeutic agents (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 6-fluorouracil, vincristine, and prednisone) were studied to determine how chemotherapy affected their granulocytes. It is widely believed that in cancer patients chemotherapeutic agents increase susceptibility to infection. Therefore, luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence was used to evaluate leukocyte function since the chemiluminescence response has been correlated to bacterial killing. the chemiluminescence response in cancer patients (6-week treatment) was significantly reduced (approximately 50%; p less than 0.01) compared to nontreated volunteers. Preliminary studies using 3H-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenyl alanine binding showed similar decreases. We postulate that chemotherapy for 6 weeks may affect granulocyte precursor cells in bone marrow, thereby weakening peripheral granulocytes and reducing both their bactericidal capacity and 3H-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenyl alanine receptors.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001770:Blood Bactericidal Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D009239:N-Formylmethionine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000378:metabolism; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D009842:Oligopeptides; D009239:N-Formylmethionine; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine